


Hold This Open Flame (but do not burn)

by LyricalRiot



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alpha Ben Solo, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Boss/Employee Relationship, Breed Kink, Breeding, Enthusiastic Consent, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Green Card Engagement, INS/ICE involvement, Immigration issues, Knotting, Marriage of Convenience, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mentions of Pregnancy, Omega Rey (Star Wars), Omega Verse, Power Dynamics, Scenting, Sex, Unsafe Sex, in the context of heat talk, nothing too dramatic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:06:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 80,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25936390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyricalRiot/pseuds/LyricalRiot
Summary: Rey is the editing director of a popular imprint at one of the big five publishing houses — and she's also about to be deported because of an expired visa. No worries, she's got the brilliant plan to make her longsuffering assistant Ben marry her in a sham greencard marriage. It'll work because she's an omega, and he's an alpha. Everyone will believe them and nothing could possibly go wrong.OrThe Proposal omegaverse AU.
Relationships: Rey & Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 465
Kudos: 1316
Collections: Let's Go to the Movies - Reylo Readers & Writers Prompt Exchange





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ToriaOtaku1993](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToriaOtaku1993/gifts).



> Welcome to my "Let's Go To The Movies" exchange fic! This one is for [@ilzAMusicalGeek](https://twitter.com/iIzAMusicalGeek) (or ToriaOtaku1993 on here). 
> 
> This fic is based off the Sandra Bullock/Ryan Reynolds movie The Proposal, except it's Star Wars and omegaverse. Multi-chapter. It's pretty all written, so updates will come every 2-3 days.

_Designation is a mindset_.

_Designation does not run my life._

_Designation is a mindset._

The _thump thump thump_ of each heavy footfall on the treadmill drums through Rey's whole body, carrying with it the steady chanting of her mind. Faint dawn light creeps over the cityscape sprawling outside her window, gold at the edge of silhouetted buildings. The treadmill clock counts her through the cool-down, speed slowing.

Her morning ritual requires this exercise, both of the body and of the mind.

She has to repeat this designation mantra to herself every morning.

Just like she has to shower and use the scent-neutralizing body wash, and the scent-neutralizing shampoo. Just like she has to have a sparse breakfast of a mere protein shake, because good food makes her scent spike with pleasure.

Just like she has to take those loathsome suppressant pills that give her migraines if she ever takes them on an empty stomach and makes her palms itchy more often than not — because they are the best on the market and they allow her to move about undetected in a scent-filled world.

And these things are necessary, because designation will _not_ be Rey's life sentence.

She showers, gulps down the shake, and changes into a practical charcoal gray suit cut with clean lines. Beneath, she wears a white button-up, and a pair of practical yellow pumps. She arranges her hair the way she always does — down, combed, straightened. Sometimes it bothers her to have her hair the way, but she never puts it up at the office because that would be a visual reminder of what she is, and that is unacceptable.

Only Rey recognizes the shadows of shab at the edge of her rigidly professional appearance. Her suit isn't name-brand, her pumps are thrift store finds, her earrings came in a pack of eight, and her makeup options wouldn't excite anyone. But these signals of her charade are well-concealed, and the front she presents compels everyone to take her seriously. Which is exactly how she needs it.

A precisely 8:43, she takes a cab downtown, to the highrise that really is more her home than her own apartment, and has been for the last five years. _Dagobah Publishing House_ , one of the Big Five book publishers, a dominant voice in literature throughout the world. And Rey is the Editorial Director of _RESIST_ , a DPH-imprint for emerging markets in new adult and adult fiction. She knows how it looks, being as young as she is in a position as powerful as she has — especially with a famous Alpha like Luke Skywalker at the head of the company — especially with _her_ designation being what it is.

People whisper behind her back. She knows they do. About how she slept her way into the promotion three years ago.

It can't possibly be because she's _earned_ it, dammit. How she'd burned alive with raw ambition and channeled her unmatched eye for commercially successful stories into her work, until at last fortune bent to her and gave her a tribute. It can't possibly be because Rey will not accept anything less than the very best out of a life that had started out so very bad.

No. It has to be because she seduced her boss's boss's boss. For too many, no other explanation makes sense. No other explanation justifies an _omega_ being in such a position of power.

The elevator pings a neutral announcement as it opens, and Rey walks out onto the floor that she thinks of as her own domain. Her denizens operate beneath her disinterested glance, scampering about like industrious worker bees — as she expects of them. A buzz of activity whirls around her as she strides through the center aisle between cubicles, weaving her way to her corner office currently bathed in morning sunlight. The bustle has a nervous edge to it, and Rey definitely notices the way people flinch away from her, the way they avoid eye contact or nervously shoot glances to one another. Of course she notices. She always does.

And she always pretends it doesn't sting.

Because _designation is a mindset_ , and in Rey's mindset? She's all alpha, baby.

She finally gets to her office, and Ben is right where he should be, standing by her desk, a tablet in hand with her schedule for the day, a coffee held out for the taking. She lifts it from his grasp, a subtle glance tracing over the gray button-up that is definitely _way_ too small for him, stretched over his mammoth chest like it's three seconds away from bursting and revealing superhero spandex beneath it.

Still, she decides not to comment on the absurdity of the shirt — he's obviously trying to hide it behind his impeccably tied tie and his tailored suit jacket. Instead she takes her coffee over to her desk and sits down.

"Good morning, Miss Johnson," says Ben. "You've got a conference call at nine—"

"Move it to ten. Also, who is Anne and why does she want me to call her?"

She turns the coffee cup in hand towards him so he can see the girlish scrawl across the side, a winking face drawn beneath the phone number. It smells faintly of another omega. Her glance flicks up to her assistant.

He gives her a neutral expression and a shrug. "The barista from whom I always get your coffee."

"Don't you get coffee for yourself?" She arches a brow.

"Of course."

"So why would she not write her little booty call on _your_ cup?"

He briefly looks indecisive, and then shrugs again. "She messed it up."

"It couldn't be because you ordered two of the same?"

"No."

"Mm-hm." Truthfully, after three years with this particular assistant, Rey is plenty used to — and a little tired of — random names and numbers scrawled across anything that was, however briefly, in Ben's possession in public.

She stands up. "We have a meeting with Pryde."

Ben frowns and glances at his tablet. "That wasn't on your schedule"

"I know. I'm improvising."

She knows this irritates him, and for some reason that gives her immense satisfaction.

"Does Pryde know about it?" he asks.

"He will in about thirty seconds. Come on. We're going to his office."

She heads to the door, but pauses to turn back and take one more sip of coffee — fortification, she tells herself. _Alpha_ she tells herself. Alphas don't give jack shit what anyone thinks of them, because they're always the most powerful person in any room. Rey channels that now, chasing after that bitch persona everyone always seems to think she has.

Ben is already out when she emerges from her office. He falls into step behind her and says nothing as they march the length of cubicles again.

Rey catches a glimpse of a filthy, coffee-stained shirt out of the corner of her eye, much too big for the proofreader beta currently wearing it.

"That shirt looks nice," she remarks casually to Ben. "I hope your dry cleaner is a miracle worker."

"I'll let him know you're really rooting for him," he replies, not sounding the least bit chagrined to be caught wearing another man's shirt.

Rey smirks and lifts her chin a little, resolutely ignoring her underlings once again until they reach the office door of the man in question and opens it without a knock.

"Ah, Rey, come on in," he says rather sarcastically, and Rey won't show it but she's already bristling. Pryde won't call her _Ms. Johnson_ like everyone else, and they both know it's a not-so-subtle reminder that he does not recognize an omega as his superior. Every interaction has this unpleasant, old, spent Alpha battling for dominance against a woman young enough to be his granddaughter, with a designation that makes him believes she should be falling all over herself to please him.

Rey is delighted to have an excuse for what she's about to do today.

"Lovely desk, Ken. Is it new?"

"It's two thousand year old Egyptian wood," he says with undisguised condescension, like she's a child and he must speak very slowly.

Rey hums, a slight smile creeping at the corner of her lips. "Must have been quite the chore to get it all the way up here. What a pity."

"Pity?"

"You're fired, Ken." Rey is cool as a cucumber when she says it, like she's remarking about the weather.

There's something from her assistant, some noise or scent maybe, but she ignores it. Her gaze flies over to the man, watching his face turn from spray bottle tan to brilliant scarlet.

"Excuse me?" he grinds out.

"I asked you to get Mothma on Oprah three weeks ago, and you failed. You said it was impossible."

"It is impossible," he seethed.

"Did you even call her?"

"Of course not. Mothma doesn't _do_ publicity, everyone knows that."

"Huh. Strange, because I spoke to her yesterday and she agreed."

"She _what?_ "

Rey sighs, full pity in her voice. "All you had to do was call her, Ken. But we both know why you wouldn't do that. So you're fired."

"I'm fired because some publishing princess moldy old omeg—"

"No, Ken," Rey interrupts before he can get it out, "that is only the final mark on your ledger. It's comments like that, the many complaints we've had against you for sexism, racism, designation discrimination, and any other kind of '-ism' — those are all the real reason you're being fired. And besides all that? You're lazy, incompetent, and really bad at your job."

"I've been here for _twenty years_ ," he starts.

Rey cuts him off calmly. "I'll give you two weeks to get something set up and get your fancy stolen artifact of a desk packed up and shipped out."

With that, she turns and breezes out of the room, signaling for Ben to follow. He does.

"What's his twenty?" she asks when they're a few steps outside the office.

Ben glances behind him. "He's pacing. He's got crazy eyes. I can smell his rage from all the way out here."

Rey can too. The old Alpha barely has any scent left, he doesn't even need to take blockers because he can't set off anyone's heat with pheromones so weak and diluted like that — but he is furious, and this fury comes rolling off him on sickly tides of sour milk smell.

"Don't do it, Ken," Rey sighs softly.

But the office door behind her bursts open anyway and suddenly Pryde is in the hallway bellowing.

"You fucking omega bitch," he screams. "You can't fire me!"

Rey turns around. Ben stands in front of her, his built body a veritable redwood between her and the man she's just fired. He's a lot taller than she is, and broader to boot, all pale skin and groomed, thick, dark hair. A wall she can't see through. She rolls her eyes and steps to the side of him, out from behind her human wall, crossing her arms over her chest. She's deadly calm, and lets the lethal frost inside her seep into her glare.

"I gave you a graceful way out of here, which is more than you deserve, Ken. If you insist on this scene, you'll lose that opportunity."

"Fuck that." Pryde stalks towards her, pointing an accusing finger. "You're nothing but a nasty ass shrew in need of a thick knot and a firm bite to show you your rightful place. You're a heartless hag who doesn't belong. And everyone knows it. That's why nobody here can stand you. The only reason you got this job was an affirmative action bid, so Skywalker could show the world how progressive his company is. Fucking ridiculous. You don't deserve it, and you'll run this imprint into the ground before you die miserable and alone."

Rey sighs. "You will go back to your office, Ken, gather your things, and leave quietly now, or I'll have Ben and security throw you out on your ass."

"Oh! You wanna talk about your neutered Alpha cur?" Pryde turns his attention to Ben, pure disgust twisting his features. "You disgrace your designation, taking orders from an omega bitch like you've got your tail between your legs. Who cut your knot off and turned you into one of those pansy-ass male omegas? You are better than she is. You're the superior being. So fucking _act like it_ and put her in her place. Stop being her lapdog. That position should be yours and you know it. She stole it from you."

Ben's whole body seems to ripple with anger. Rey is certain that if she hadn't already berated him about upping his blockers the first time she scented his tantalizing bergamot-cedarwood hide when he walked into her office three years ago, she'd be catching olfactory signals of his fury too.

He steps forward, fists curling at his side. "Okay, time to go. Kaydel, call security and tell them I'm bringing them someone to add to their list of banned visitors."

Kaydel, the secretary across the bullpen, picks up the phone but her fingers hover over the dial. She, like most of the employees here, are Betas. The spectacle of an Alpha facing down another Alpha is too good to resist. It makes Rey sick with disgust. They're not animals in a zoo.

But if they were, it wouldn't be very exciting. Ben is a young Alpha, in the prime of his virility, all power and dominance and presence. And Pryde is...past all that. He knows the younger male will win this fight, and so he backs down, huffing his rage, storming out and back to his office to slam the door.

Rey can feel everyone watching her. She rolls her eyes and spins on her heel, marching back to her own office as if this whole display is so far beneath her.

A few seconds later, Ben comes in behind. He looks peeved.

There could be some awkwardness here, potentially. It's a...highly sensitive issue that neither of them acknowledge. This arrangement is unusual to say the least. For an omega, a young, fertile, _unmated_ omega to be the direct superior of a young, virile, unmated alpha is...well it certainly runs against instincts.

Rey knows Ben chafes at the arrangement, though he's never said anything. She also knows what the others say about him, and how they tease him mercilessly for being the bitch's own bitch, and how does he like taking it up the ass — crude things like that.

So she refuses to let it be awkward. Instead she merely sits at her desk and looks up at him. "We'll have a full weekend, reassigning his authors and assessing possible replacements." Ben's expression flickers, a brief hardening of the lines around his mouth, before it clears again. Rey lifts a brow. "You have a problem with that? Some plans for the weekend, maybe?"

"No, I'll be here. I was going home for my grandmother's 90th birthday party, but if you need me here—"

"I do."

"I'll tell them I'm not coming." He doesn't look the least bit happy about it. But Rey doesn't pay him to be happy, she pays him to do his job. Which is what needs to happen this weekend.

She nods and flicks her fingers in a dismissive gesture. "Go figure out whatever you need to do to make this weekend productive. And don't forget to move that nine o'clock meeting."

His jaw pulses once but he turns and goes anyway. He always does. Ben is a good assistant, and Rey's life would be infinitely harder without him. Truthfully, he would be an excellent candidate to replace Pryde as editor, but Rey isn't sure she can stomach training a new assistant. He's organized and quiet and resourceful. She doesn't have to babysit him, he's a good person to bounce ideas off, or problematize any issue, and he takes initiative on important tasks she hasn't even thought to assign yet.

He's more than qualified to move on, which she knows is what he wants. But she's not ready for that yet.

There's a manuscript on the corner of her desk with a sticky note from Ben explaining why he thinks it would be an excellent pick for the company, but it's un-agented, and Rey sticks to company policy that they do not accept un-agented manuscripts. She won't read it. It's been sitting there for weeks. She pushes it aside now with a frown and gets to work.

Outside her office, she can hear Ben on the phone.

"I know, Mom, I know. I'm sorry." He sounds frustrated. "What do you want me to say? I _have_ to work. No, it isn't him. Don't you dare. No, Mom, do not do that. He won't listen to you, nor should he. It's _fine_. Tell Grams I'm sorry. Yeah, I know. I'm sure Dad is pissed, but I'm not throwing away the chance at a promotion — hang on, there's a call coming through. Yeah. Yeah I'll try to explain it all later. Call you back. Love you too. Bye."

Rey needs to draft a memo about a staff conference with the acquisitions team, but she's distracted. She gets up and goes to the door, maybe meaning to close it, but catches a glimpse of Ben at his desk in that ridiculously too-tight shirt, loosening his tie and running a flustered hand through his thick dark hair. He replies a quick, clipped affirmation to whoever it is on the phone now and hangs up.

"You talk to your family?" Rey asks, leaning on the door to her office.

He jumps, hastily tightening his tie again and turning to her. "Yes."

"Did they tell you to quit?"

"Every day. Skywalker and Jade want to see you."

She blinks at the abrupt shift in subject. "Now?"

"Now. In their office."

Rey closes her eyes with an exasperated sigh. "Fine. Come get me in ten minutes. We've got a lot to do."

"I just got the mockups for 2021's lineup for your approval."

"Great. We'll start with that. Ten minutes."

"Ten minutes," he agreed.

Rey does not stop to ask herself if it's cruel of her to deny her longsuffering assistant the chance to go home and celebrate with his family. She can't afford the question. She didn't get to this coveted position by letting everyone else have what they want. If Ben intends to ride her coattails into positions of power, he will do the work she asks him to do — no caveats. No _family_.

What Ben doesn't know, and what Rey won't tell him, is that really, she's doing him a favor. Family holds you back. Best to cut them off like a wart and move on.

She takes the elevator up two floors to the executives' level. The assistant there gives her a cheerful greeting.

"Hi, Ms. Johnson! I'll let them—"

Rey walks right past her, pushing open the door to Luke Skywalker's office and making her way in.

Very few people would be comfortable barging into the office of one of the most famous publishers in the world, but Rey is one of them. Luke is her mentor and advisor, and their rapport is strong enough to tolerate presumptions like this.

He's in there with his business partner, Mara Jade. They're both alphas, through and through.

"Good, Rey, you're here," Luke says when she shuts the door behind her. "Come on in and take a seat."

His voice sounds warm and friendly, so she isn't worried this is about to be some chastisement for a poor decision — not that she's made any. She sits a chair across the desk from the graying middle-aged man and his dashiki shirt. He wears flip-flops around the office and has both a beard and hair longer than is strictly professional, but he can get away with it. He is, after all, the CEO. Mara looks much more put together, as she always does.

"Congratulations on getting Monica to do the Oprah thing!" Mara says with an impressed grin. "She's a tough nut to crack."

"Thank you. I discovered that she just needed the right reassurance about why it was important for her example to reach millions of women."

Luke's startling blue eyes wrinkle a little around the edges in what Rey has learned is his look of affection and approval. "That's why you're the right person for your position. You get what we're trying to do here, with every title we publish."

Mara clears her throat. Rey's smile fades as Luke sighs and shakes his head. She can sense the bad news before it fully unfurls on his face.

"It's honestly such a shame. I can't stand it."

"What can't you stand?" she asks him.

Mara spares him the burden. "Rey, it's about your visa."

She frowns.

"Do you remember that we advised you not to go to the Toronto Literary Festival?"

"But it was too huge an opportunity—"

"And you went anyway, remember?" Mara's voice isn't accusing or angry, it's mildly amused. "Ben was sneezing for weeks from an allergic reaction to someone's suppressant spray at the festival, remember?"

Luke laughs. "How could I forget?"

Rey remembers too. It was some omega chick dressed up like a hooker, saying she was supposed to be Sunny, the prostitute from Catcher in the Rye. It was, without a doubt, the worst excuse to dress in overly sexualized clothes and prey on pretty alphas Rey had ever seen. She came tripping up to Ben and hung on his neck, asking Rey to take a picture of them and giving him a kiss on the cheek in the meanwhile. Whatever janky suppressant she'd used to prevent her victims from launching into a rut left Ben itching and sneezing. Rey wanted to dunk "Sunny" in a vat of acid.

"What does that have to do with my visa?" Rey asks impatiently.

"You'll recall, I think, that the reason we told you not to go was that it would complicate your visa renewal, which was already processing."

"And I'm guessing it did."

Luke nods. "It did. It has been denied."

Rey's stomach drops to the floor. " _Denied?_ "

"We spoke to your immigration attorney this morning to try to plead your case," he explains. "You have to know that we would do anything we could to keep you."

"Unfortunately, you're slated to be deported," Mara adds.

"Deported," Rey repeats, stunned into horrified speechlessness.

Images of hazy, grimy London flash unpleasantly through her memories, drawing a chill to her skin and a grimace to her face. She can't go back there. Not while she's alive. She won't. London holds _no_ fond memories for her at all. There's nothing for her there.

"It's difficult," Luke says, "but your attorney said we _might_ be able to find a way for you to work from our satellite office in London. Sometimes they'll make provisions for deportees to continue working for US companies."

No. No, Rey wouldn't go back to London, even if she could keep her job there. Most of her authors were here anyway, and everything would be monstrously harder. That and the fact that she loathed everything about her time there.

"Come on, there has to be something else — I just went to Canada, for heaven's sake, that's basically not even leaving the country."

"Apparently the government feels differently," Mara sighs. "Believe us, Rey, we don't want to lose you."

"We can reapply," Luke says, as if this is supposed to soothe her, "but you'll still have to leave the country for at least a year."

"I can't do that," Rey pleads. "Just let me talk to my attorney."

"You can try, but honestly, there's—" Luke stops suddenly as the door opens, a briefly annoyed expression breaking his geniality. "Ben, we're in a meeting."

Ben's head, his long face and dark eyes and plush lips, are poking through the opening in the door. "Sorry to interrupt."

Rey's emotions are skyrocketing to unsustainable heights and she's three seconds away from combustion, this is _not_ a moment where she can deal with whatever it is Ben's concocted to get her out of this meeting. She turns to give him a dismissive glower.

He ignores the look. "Ms. Johnson, I've got someone on the line from Ms. Winfrey's team. They need to speak to you about Mothma's interview. I tried to handle it. I told them you were otherwise engaged."

"Ben," Luke says impatiently again.

But something he said snaps Rey out of her rising panic. She blinks at him, the word repeating in her mind like a record skipping back on its track. It's...it's an outrageous plan. Horribly unethical. Completely wrong.

But she's just desperate enough to reach for it.

"I'm sorry," Ben says again and looks expectantly at Rey.

"Um…" she hesitates. It's maybe not the _worst_ plan in the world. Their designations are right. It wouldn't work without that part. And they can tolerate each other well enough. And he's not bad looking. Not at all. Not even a little. "Ben, can you step in here for a minute?"

He does, closing the door behind him.

"So…" she says slowly, nodding a little to herself. It's insane, but maybe not too insane. It's a gamble. She's good at gambles. They usually pay off. She glances at Luke and Mara. "I just remembered that you guys hadn't heard the good news yet."

"Good news?" Mara says.

"Right. Yeah. Actually it's pretty timely news, all things considered. I don't know why I didn't think to tell you before." Her hands are trying to flit nervously at her side. She forces them to be still and silently thanks her strict regime and absurdly expensive suppressants that the three alphas in the room won't be able to scent her agitation.

Luke lifts a skeptical brow.

"We're, uh…" She sidesteps closer to her enormous assistant. "We're engaged. We're getting married."

Ben glances at her. "Who is getting married?"

"We are."

"Getting married," he repeats slowly, confused.

"Yes." Rey keeps her voice steady and gives him a pointed look, a fierce look, praying he'll get the message to play along.

His eyes dart up from her towards the two executives. The two executives who know him quite well — better than any assistant.

Luke leans back in his chair, hands behind his head as a ridiculous grin curls over his face. "Well, well, well," he chuckles. "When I told you that it'd be good for you to learn discipline and control working for Rey here, I didn't realize I'd be playing matchmaker with my only nephew."

Ben opens his mouth and Rey already knows he's about to protest, so she gives him a hard elbow jab and smiles instead. "Tale as old as time, right? The boss falling for her assistant."

Mara cocks her head, looking as if she's vastly enjoying herself. "Biology must be so hard to resist."

That definitely makes Rey cringe. Because she's worked so hard to fight biology her whole life, and now...everyone's going to think she was just a helpless slave to it after all. Dammit.

Ben is rigid and silent beside her. She glances down at his hand and takes it with her own, skin almost crawling at the strangeness of the touch because they _do not_ touch. Ever. It makes her want to crawl into the ground with shame when she says it, but she forces the smile and the words with it.

"I wish you weren't right, Mara, but there's just...there's nothing to be done about it. We're just a — a — a typical—"

She can't even get the words out, it makes her sick. To say _typical alpha and omega_. She forges ahead anyway. "All those weekends working late hours, all those book fairs and literary festivals…" she produces the most false-sounding laugh she's ever made in her life.

Luke spares her. "That's fine, Rey. We can work with this. Actually, I think it's delightful. We'll give your attorney a call and set you up an interview with INS today if we can. No time to waste here."

"Great." Rey drops Ben's hand as if it were made of fire. He still hasn't moved a muscle, and she doesn't have the guts to glance up at his face to see what emotions are there. "It'll work?"

Mara laughs. "For your sake, I hope so."

"Word to the wise, though," Luke interjects, lifting a single finger. "INS is pretty sharp. They don't employ a lot of betas. And they're going to notice that despite your obviously _oh-so-legitimate_ relationship, you two don't smell like each other. In fact, you two don't smell like anything at all. Even betas have more scent than you do. Something to think about."

"Just make it legal," Mara reminds them. "We can work with legal."

"Great. Will do. Thanks. Let me know about the meeting." Rey suddenly wants to run out of there screaming. Instead she grabs Ben's sleeve and hauls him out with her. "We'll sort this mess out!" she calls over her shoulder.

The elevator ride is the most awkward of her life. She glances behind her shoulder at him, but no higher than his throat before she turns around and stares at the door again. He still hasn't said anything. His body language is...tense. It's really tense. She should offer something to ease this moment, to explain, maybe, but she won't. Not until he demands it. If he demands it.

Because this doesn't mean anything. It's just a maneuver to help her keep her job and not have to move back to the place where all her nightmares live. She won't go back there. Ben is her ticket to staying. That's it.

 _Alpha_ , she reminds herself. _Be an alpha_.

So she lifts her chin and stalks out before him the moment the elevator door opens, making a bee-line for her office. Ben doesn't falter. He flows behind her like this is a normal day and they've just had a normal meeting. Nobody knows what went on in that room yet, so nobody gives them any glances or strange looks. Just as well. Rey isn't sure she'll be able to take it when they inevitably do find out.

Oh god.

She expects Ben to go to his desk, but he doesn't. He follows her into her office and shuts the door behind him. When she finally looks at his face he looks angry. His eyes, which are a complex kind of hazel that seem to favor the dark brown range much of the time, are black and hostile. His full lips are hard.

"What the fuck was that?" he demands.

Rey scowls at him. "What?"

"Lying to my uncle? For what?"

"We went to Toronto."

"I don't recall getting engaged in Toronto."

She sighs. "It's just….immigration issues."

"I'm gonna need a hell of a lot more than that."

Rey sits down at her desk, pretending to straighten papers. "My visa application was denied because of Toronto. They were going to deport me. This way, I get to stay."

"We have offices in London."

"You really want to move to London?"

His frown deepens, with confusion more than anger now. "Why would I move to London? You're the one being deported."

"You're my assistant, Ben. Where I go, you go."

"Fuck that," he says. "They have assistants in London. Make me an editor, and go enjoy your life."

"Nice try, but no. I'm not going to train a new assistant for the year I have to be there," she says coldly. "That would be a huge waste of resources."

"So getting _married_ is the easier road." There's so much mockery in his smooth voice that Rey wants to sock him in the mouth.

"Yes, in fact, it _is_." She gives him an icy glare. "Your phone is ringing. Better go answer it. Might be _Ms. Winfrey's_ people."

"We're not done talking about this."

"Yes we are. Now go do your job."

He turns sharply and strides out, a cloud of agitation left in his wake. Rey drops her head to her desk and groans when she's finally alone. This is _not_ a good idea. Ben can play it cool in a lot of scenarios, but she's not sure this is one of them. And she doesn't really even know if she has the right to demand this of him, designation notwithstanding, but just like before, Rey doesn't let herself wonder that for too long. She _has_ to do this.

Because back in London is nothing but misery and sorrow and loneliness and every bad thing she's been running from since she left.

Ben _will_ provide her way out, even if she has to drag him kicking and screaming.

She lifts her head just as he comes back in, arms crossing over his huge chest, scowl on his face. "That was Luke. Your attorney can get us in to see someone at Immigration right away if we can go now. You'll have to rearrange your entire schedule—"

"Do it," she says immediately, standing up. "Cancel everything you have to. This is more important."

"Committing fraud is more important." The words drip like acid, and she can feel his contempt, no matter how much his scent is blocked.

Scent...she blinks, blushes, grabs her purse and phone. "Yes. Come on. We can walk."

Ben turns and leaves immediately, striding away from her so quickly she practically has to sprint to keep up. But sprinting isn't the look she wants to give her subordinates right now, so she walks purposefully and lets him get far ahead of her. She does rush the last few feet to the elevator though before he can go down without her. A few eyes follow them, but nobody stops working.

Good.

He's on the phone and on his tablet for the rest of their walk through the building, sending emails and making calls to clear her schedule for the next couple hours. At least he's still doing his work, she has to credit him for that. He doesn't miss a step, even though he's obviously rattled and irritated.

"Can you slow down?" she complains when they get outside and he takes off down the street, his absurdly long legs carrying him leagues ahead of her. Since no one is around to witness, she finally does run to keep up with him. "There's no fire. We'll get there."

"If I'm going to ruin my life for you, I'd rather get it over with as quickly as possible."

"Ruin your — wow, so dramatic. Like you were _saving yourself_ for the right omega?"

"I'd like to think so." He shoots her a vicious side-eye, but at least he slows down enough that she can power-walk beside him.

She snorts derisively. "Didn't peg you for a sappy traditionalist."

He stops suddenly in his path and reaches out to grab her arm, pulling her to a stop with him. His eyes are blazing with intensity as he leans forward and says, "Yes I am. Not in my career, obviously, and not in the sense that the omega's place is in the home with the pups, but domesticity _is_ what I want. The mate, the marriage, the romance and unity. You can mock me if you want, I've already known for some time how you put your own heart on ice and no longer remember what it is to crave companionship, but I haven't done that. I'm not ashamed of what I want. And this? What you're asking? It's an insult. You need to know that if you're going to insist on doing this."

She's too practiced in keeping a stoic, cold face to flinch from the sting his words inflict. She glares and him and yanks her arm out of his grasp. "You can divorce me as soon as I get my green card and then you can go chase your happy domestic bliss."

"I absolutely will do that," he promises through gritted teeth.

"Good." Now she's the one speed walking away from him, but he doesn't even try to keep up with her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention that because this is an omegaverse AU, there will obviously be some divergence from the film here and there. Just a warning so you aren't caught off guard!

The immigration office is packed. Rey doesn't have the patience to deal with this. She's already on edge, though she refuses to think that guilt has anything to do with it whatsoever. It's definitely _just_ due to the anxiety of her visa situation, and having to take time out of her extremely busy day to handle the situation. Scents assail her from all corners, of people on lower quality blockers and suppressants. Everyone smells annoyed and anxious, just like her. But Rey isn't _everyone_. She's spent years building herself the thickest skin as a suit of armor so that she can get to where she wants to be.

Thusly prepared, she bullies her way to the front of the line, ignoring the protests of the annoyed folks behind her, and informs the desk employee that they have an appointment. Curses of _Karen_ and _beta bitch_ break against her back like water over rocks. She's impervious. And if they think she's a beta, well, that's exactly the point of all those suppressant products.

The desk agent purses her lips and looks like she'd about to protest, but takes one look at Ben and sighs, sliding over two clipboards of paperwork for them to fill out while they wait. Rey takes them, a familiar feeling of exasperation rising sharply. It's the one that always comes when people defer to Ben's obvious alpha-ness instead of her own authority. It annoys her, but she'd be lying if she said that she didn't use it to her advantage sometimes. One of the things that makes him an effective assistant is how people tend to roll over and show him their bellies, figuratively speaking, without much more than a glance in his direction.

Rey hands one of the clipboards to Ben and they find a couple seats. Neither speak as they begin filling out the materials. Things are still tense between them. The paper work is fairly standard, nothing too weird yet. Mostly just full legal names, birthdates, designations, his social security number, her ID number — things that don't make her feel like she's hurtling headlong into the biggest gamble of her life. They lull her, give her confidence. See? This _is_ just business. The language is appropriately cold and aloof.

Nothing to get worked up about. This is a legal transaction. Nothing more.

"How do you want to handle the scent thing?" Ben asks when he slides his pen into the top of the clipboard. He finished a lot sooner than she did.

"The scent thing?" Rey looks up from her paperwork. She pretends to not know what he's talking about.

He knows she's bullshitting him. A brow lifts. "Luke's bit of advice."

"Well…" she hesitates, but does not stammer. She's still on show here — she has to be at all time with Ben — and alphas _don't_ stammer. They know what they're doing at any given moment. Right? And the logical solution to their olfactory indifference to one another is simple.

"I suppose you should scent me."

It makes her stomach flip unpleasantly to even suggest it. Scenting is an intimate act, and absolutely nothing about their relationship has ever skirted the territory of intimate.

"Excuse me?"

His disapproving glower makes her even more determined. It's a necessary step in this legal transaction. Maybe the most unpleasant part. The sooner they grit their teeth and get through it, the sooner it'll be over and they can move on.

"Come on," she says, taking his clipboard and standing up. "She said it would be a while. We've got time."

"Rey," he says, and his voice is low with warning. It's one of the few times he's ever used her name out loud like that, and it does something funny to her. She can't decide what it does, exactly.

"Ben," she fires back. "Bit familiar, aren't you? Do you think just because we're doing this that you don't have to show proper respect to your boss any longer?"

"Respect to my boss?" He scoffs. "You aren't _just_ my boss anymore, right? Isn't that what you told my uncle? So you really want me to go in there and say no, this isn't fraud, yes, we're in love, yes, my omega still makes me call her _Ms Johnson_."

Rey scowls, but can conjure no reply because of course that's absurd. And because something inside her twists strangely when he says _my omega_ like that.

Asshole.

But is he really? When she's the one making him do this?

They glare at each other a moment too long. Finally he rolls his eyes and gets to his feet. A flash of nervousness fleetingly buzzes through Rey's veins. She spins on her heels and he follows her, out of the waiting room and down the hallway towards the bathrooms. There are three single-stall gender-neutral options, two of which are occupied. She isn't squeamish. This gross public restroom is good enough for what they need to do. She opens the door and motions for him to go inside.

Ben honestly looks like a man being led to the gallows. His face is dark and grim and resigned. He can be tremendously dramatic sometimes. She already knows this about him. He's gotten better at tempering his emotions in the three years they've been working together, but sometimes it's still so easy to read him.

Rey locks the door behind them and turns to face him. Her heart thuds harder in her chest. Nervous, she realizes. She sets the clipboards down together on top of the trash can and fidgets a little. This is...weird. It's really weird. Ben is her _assistant_ , and now she's asking him to…

His gaze roves around the dingy bathroom, taking it in with that grisly look on his face. "This place is disgusting."

It annoys her again, which helps curb some of the nerves and makes her just irritated enough to be matter-of-fact about what they're doing here.

"It doesn't need to be a five star hotel room. This will take all of two minutes and then we can get out of here. Are you in control?" she asks him sharply, bringing his attention back to her in a snap.

He grimaces. "I've never been in less danger of losing control in my life."

She rolls her eyes again and slides some of her hair behind her shoulder, drawing it to the other side to expose one of the scent glands on her neck, the ones she always, always keeps hidden.

His eyes are on it immediately, and she swears his pupils dilate in the harsh glow of the bathroom lights.

 _It's for your job,_ she reminds herself as her instincts tell her to run. _It's just a professional strategy,_ she mentally chants as her pride rages against this things to which she's submitting herself. This act of letting an alpha _mark_ her with his scent, however temporarily.

"Are you sure?" Ben asks, and his voice is low, tinged with a growl she doesn't recognize.

She turns her head to give him better access, glaring at the flyers taped to the back of the door. "Just do it already. Stop making it a whole thing."

He draws in close, and Rey realizes he actually _is_ going to do it. Her heart races harder, and she has to fight with all her might to keep her breath even and calm. Nothing inside her is calm. His hands are on either side of her now, against the wall, caging her in so she can't run. She wants to run. And Ben is _big_. He's really big. She's known this, of course, but right now, hemmed in by his huge shoulders and vast chest, Rey realizes exactly how big.

 _Alpha is strong_ , some voice inside her says with awe, and she almost flinches because she's been ignoring that side of herself for so long she didn't remember what it was like. She absolutely does _not_ want her instincts to chime in right now.

It's probably just the situation they're in, his breath ghosting over her neck as his nose brushes up under her ear and into her hair.

"It's faint," he tells her, and his words are hot on her skin, making her shiver.

"What is?"

"Your scent. Even right here, it's so faint."

It better be. Rey pays insane amounts to make sure it's as faint as possible. "Think it'll...it'll still work?" she asks, definitely unsteady now because the feel of his mouth right there makes her head spin a little. If he doesn't think it'll work, they'll abandon the plan, because this is too much. She needs him to back off. Her crystal clear objectives are all cloudy and she can't...she can't think...

"It'll work," he promises, his voice a low rumble just before his tongue swipes once over her gland, and stars spark behind her eyes.

Holy shit.

Her hands latch onto his arms for support because suddenly she can't stand, her legs weak and wobbly from the intense pleasure that rushes through her whole body at his second pass. He makes a soft sound and his lips close on her, sucking lightly as he steps in, moving his body in against her.

She chokes back a whimper, eyes squeezing shut. It feels so sinfully good. So dangerously good. His hot mouth working that ultra-sensitive patch of skin makes her want to turn over and press her backside into his groin. Makes her want to offer him everything.

Shivers run down the length of her, eliciting her gasps and making her clutch at him. He takes and takes, laving her gland like it's everything he's been looking for his whole life. Rey slides an arm up, rubbing the gland on her wrist against his own at the juncture of his neck and shoulder, beneath the collar of his shirt, and she'd like to think it's strategy that compels her — he needs to smell like her too — but that would be a lie. It's nothing less than pure instinct, being scented by an alpha and needing to leave him smelling of her in return.

 _Mine, mine, mine_ , her inner omega purrs, and Rey stifles another helpless groan. She doesn't want to hear that part of herself, but she can't silence it.

Ben pulls back suddenly, his lips leaving her neck cold in their wake, his eyes black as night. He shudders and steps away from her, raking a hand through his hair. His tongue swipes once over his lips before he brings the back of his hand up to wipe his mouth dry.

"That...should work…" Rey says dizzily, trying to drag herself back down into reality.

"Good," he says roughly. "Take care of your situation before you come back."

And then he yanks the door open and stalks out, snatching the clipboards on his way. He seems livid about something. Maybe about what she made him do.

Rey can't exactly think about it for too long. Her thoughts are all disjointed and she has to wait a minute for her breathing to slow down and the world to stop spinning. She stifles the desperate urge to grab a paper towel and wipe off the wet spot on her neck. She doesn't though. That would make that whole uncomfortable moment pointless. Instead she finger-combs her hair back in place and reassess her appearance in the mirror to ensure she doesn't look as frazzled as she feels. That's when she notices the warm wet feeling in her underwear.

Fuck.

 _That_ situation.

She grabs several paper towels now and peels down her pants, trying to soak up the puddle of slick that has definitely ruined her underwear. She throws them away and quickly washes her thighs and labia clean before putting herself back together. She hasn't had arousal slick show up in a very long time. Not in recent memory, at least.

It was probably a mistake to make him do that.

Maybe all of this is a mistake.

But she grits her teeth and returns to the waiting room anyway. When she sits down next to Ben, he doesn't look at her. She might as well not even exist. But it doesn't matter for long because she's barely there for a couple minutes before they're called back to meet with the INS agent.

And Rey comes crashing back into focus with devastating speed.

They're here to commit fraud. They're here to save her job and keep her from going back to her nightmares. This is business, dammit, and nothing more. Biology is lamentable, it can't be helped, but she doesn't need to get discombobulated by a little slick show and the voice of her instincts reappearing. She can handle this situation.

The office is tiny. The man in front of them isn't that big either, but even he looks stuffed in here like some kind of afterthought. He smells faintly like an alpha, but Rey has doubts. He doesn't look very alpha-like.

"Hello," he greets, extending his hand.

Rey isn't sure if he's trying to shake, but Ben's there before she can reach, putting the clipboards into his hands, and oh. Yes. Of course that's what he wants.

"Hi," Ben says.

"I'm Mister Krennic," he introduces, looking over the clipboards without really glancing up. "Mister Solo and Miss Johnson, I presume?"

"Yes," says Rey.

Ben takes a seat in one of the two chairs across from Krennic, but she hovers by the door, itching to go.

"Yes," Ben echoes coolly.

"Won't you have a seat next to your _fiancé_ , Miss Johnson," Krennic says, motioning at the empty chair.

"Right." She complies quickly, slipping into the chair. "Sorry. Little nervous."

"And why would that be?" Krennic's eyes track Ben's movement as he reaches out and drags Rey's chair closer to him. "Not committing fraud, are we?"

"Fraud?" Rey sputters. "No? Why would you think that?"

"It's convenient timing," says Krennic, sitting back in his chair. "Your work visa just got denied, so you're applying for a fiancee visa. It couldn't be for the simple reason that you'd like to keep your job with Degobah Publishing, could it?"

"Oh. No. Well, I mean, I can see how it looks, of course, but you seem like an intelligent man. We wouldn't jeopardize our careers for something like this. I could work easily from our London office. This is less about staying here, and more about staying together." The lie is smoother than she thought it would be, and her confidence lifts. She is competent. She is resourceful. She is a survivor. She can do this.

"Uh-huh," Krennic looks between them, then suddenly leans forward with both elbows on his crowded desk. "So let me explain the process to the two of you, because I have a feeling you're in over your heads. Step one, we'll schedule separate interviews. We'll stick each of you in a room and ask you a battery of questions and then compare your answers to see if you actually know each other as well as you claim. Questions that a real couple would be able to answer, but that fraudsters wouldn't. Step two, I dig deeper. I'll look at your phone records, your gas receipts, I'll talk to your neighbors and coworkers and family members. I'll have to ascertain not only that your relationship is legitimate, but also that there's no coercion between alpha and omega, no undue influence. No commands. If at any point, your answers don't line up or the stories about you two conflict, Miss Johnson will be deported and _you_ , Mister Solo, will be convicted of a felony, charged with a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar fine and given a stay in a federal prison of up to five years."

Silence follows his lecture. Profound, deafening silence.

Krennic pins Ben with his stare. "So, Mister Solo, you wanna talk to me?"

Ben frowns. "What would you like me to tell you?"

"You can still walk out of here without getting in trouble. Tell me what's really going on, and you won't get charged with anything."

"You want to know what's really going on?" Ben glances at Rey.

She shifts in her seat and gives him a big fake smile, praying he doesn't use this moment to uphold some righteous morality and give her away. She doesn't know why Krennic is targeting Ben with his fierce stare which is _definitely_ an alpha stare — maybe because of Ben's designation, or maybe he can smell hesitation like some kind of bloodhound. But either way, Rey is definitely nervous. Wearing Ben's scent doesn't help. She gets whiffs of it now and then, and knowing it's soaked into her skin it plays with her instincts, confusing her brain between truth and reality.

"The truth is, Mister Krennic," Ben sighs after a minute of staring at her, "is that it _does_ have something to do with her visa."

Rey's stomach drops with horror. She let this son of a bitch traitor _scent her_ just to be betrayed like this? The fucking Judas.

Ben keeps going, though, his gaze drifting up to the ceiling before landing back on the agent. "We've been trying to keep our relationship extremely secret because of work."

"Why?" Krennic asks sharply.

Ben shifts, crossing his legs like he's getting comfortable. "You've no doubt noticed our scents. How faint they are."

"Yes," says Krennic. "Yours is a bit stronger, on both of you. But hers is non-existent."

"Right. The nature of our work demands extreme professionalism, and her designation makes her an easy target for...commentary. So she tries her best to neutralize her scent and pass as a beta. It's especially important that we try very hard not to smell like each other, because — well, she's my boss."

Krennic's eyebrow lifts in a look of heavy skepticism. " _She_ is your boss?"

Ben nods. "And we were violating about a hundred HR protocols. Plus with my promotion coming up, we knew how it would look. So we've been pretending. Trying to keep it a secret."

The emotional whiplash is bound to make Rey sick, but suddenly she is soaring with relief — too much relief to even care that he said something about a promotion.

"But she still smells like you. A little." Krennic doesn't sound entirely convinced.

Ben winces and glances at Rey. "I told you last night was a bad idea. Do you think anyone else at the office has noticed?"

She doesn't even know what to say, so she says nothing, merely shrugging helplessly. She's too surprised to form a coherent sentence. And her inner omega is liking this fictional scenario very much, which is as confusing as his scent.

"And what were you being promoted to?" Krennic makes some kind of note in his file.

"Editor," Ben says confidently.

"From which position?"

"Assistant editor."

"To Miss Johnson."

"Yes."

Krennic shakes his head, frowning. "I don't buy it. You expect me to believe that before this promotion, an alpha was serving as a glorified secretary? To an omega?"

"Assistant," Rey corrects firmly. "And it's all verifiable through our employer."

Ben nods again. "So while we weren't quite ready to reveal our relationship to everyone yet, we panicked when she found out her visa had been denied. I can't let her go to London, Mister Krennic. And I want to marry her anyway. So why not now?"

The agent sighs and rolls his eyes. "Look, not to be indelicate here, but if this is true, you know the simpler solution would be to claim her, don't you? Mates are inseparable by immigration issues. She'd be granted an immediate green card."

Ah that is...that is trickier to explain. In the first place, Rey didn't even know about that particular legal loophole, and in the second, she absolutely does _not_ want that. A mating bite isn't just some sham wedding one can shrug off with a quickie divorce. A mating bite is forever. Ben can't bite her. Rey would rather go back to London than allow things to go that far.

"Yes, that would be easier," Ben acknowledges. He doesn't skip a beat. "And honestly, that might be our last resort. But I was raised in a pretty strict religious home. My parents taught me that an alpha promises fidelity to his omega in the sight of God before he claims her soul. And well, I guess I'm still a little old fashioned in that regard. I still believe in saving the bite for after marriage."

"My parents raised me the same way," Krennic says begrudgingly.

Rey swallows back the urge to laugh. Can such simple, ancient puritanical school of thought really be her saving grace here?

"So you know that you have to marry within 90's days of being granted the fiancée visa, right?"

"We do, yeah," said Ben. "Actually, we're prepared to do it as soon as we have it."

"Even though it will jeopardize your promotion?" Krennic sniffs around Ben's story like he knows the scaffold is built out of toothpicks and he wants to find the one that will make the whole structure collapse.

Rey has been utterly out at sea for most of this, but she suddenly kicks into gear, confidence cautiously returning. "I will disclose everything to HR and our superiors and let them sort out how the promotion will work. Ben shouldn't be denied a position he's more than qualified for just because we couldn't escape biology."

"Okay, so you'll be informing your employer. What about your parents?" Krennic looks down at his paper as if he's suddenly very tired.

"Oh, my parents are dead," Rey says lightly. "Nothing to worry about there."

"No brothers or sisters?"

"Nope. Just me."

"How convenient for this particular situation. My condolences for your loss. And Mister Solo? Your parents are dead too?"

"No, my parents are very much alive."

"Very much alive," Rey echoes. An idea occurs to her which will surely seal their ruse in nice protective armor. She rolls with it. "Actually we were going to tell them this weekend at his grandmother's 90'th birthday party. The whole family is coming together. Seemed like it would be a nice surprise."

"You are?" Krennic makes another note on their file. "And where is this surprise taking place?"

"At his parents' house."

"Which is where?"

Rey hesitates. She doesn't actually know where he's from, she realizes. Three years working together and she's never asked. Not like she's ever been interested. Where he's from doesn't matter as much as his work ethic. Ben covers for her.

"Theed," he says. "It's a small village on the island of Naboo. Off the coast of Alaska."

"Alaska…" Rey repeats, stumbling over the word. She gives Ben an alarmed look, which he meets with a smug little smile.

"You're going to Alaska this weekend?" Krennic clarifies. "To tell the family about your engagement?"

"We are," Rey says a little too quickly. "At least, the rest of his family. His uncle already knows, but then, he lives a lot closer and we see him more often."

"Okay." Krennic sighs a heavy, exasperated sigh. "Alright. I see how you're going to play this. You're determined, I'll give you that. We'll see if that will save you in the end. I'm penciling you in for your interviews, since that's the next step. Give me a second to see how soon I can get you in. Miss Johnson, when are you due for your heat?"

Rey flinches with shock, her cheeks burning bright immediately. It's a wildly personal question. "Um, excuse me?"

"Your estrus. When are you due for that?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I have to know if it will affect your availability for any of our proceedings."

"It won't."

He glances up like he's ready to give her another visa denial right there. "I know it's an uncomfortable question but it's nothing to be ashamed of. No need to get testy. So you aren't due within the next month or so?"

"No."

Actually, she's not due for another six months and fourteen days, because the suppressant she's on gives her exactly _one_ cycle a year, and she's nothing if not clockwork regular. But Rey would prefer not to acknowledge her heats at all, so it irritates the hell out of her that he keeps pushing this issue.

She doesn't even bother to wonder what Ben thinks of this. He's never been made aware that she even takes heat leave once a year, because she doesn't call it that. She always schedules a trip to a fictional _executive omega leadership conference_ for that week, which is conveniently the same every year, and no one has ever questioned it. She has overheard some of the other employees gossiping around the water cooler, wondering why she doesn't seem to have heats, but that's fine, everyone already assumes she's defective anyway. Like her designation got screwed up and left her without any of the necessary omega biology.

Ben doesn't really take rut leave either, she realizes with a start. She would be required by law to let him if he asked, but he's never asked. Once in a long while he'll get the rare few days off for some family thing or other, and it occurs to her for the first time that perhaps he doesn't always spend those with family. Maybe he does the same thing and lies about it.

Thinking _Ben_ and _r_ _ut_ in the same sentence makes her deeply uncomfortable so she stops immediately.

Krennic looks up from his computer. "Alright. I have two weeks from today at three-thirty. Does that work for both of you?"

"What's the date on that?" Rey asks.

"It'll work," Ben overrides. She gives him a sharp look, and he shrugs. "I know your schedule, _sweetheart_ , and so far you don't have any meetings on that day."

"Look at you all organized," she says, syrupy sweet, bordering on acidic.

Krennic observes the interaction before adding the appointment. "You're all set. I'll see you both in two weeks. Be ready. And good luck in Alaska."

"Thanks," says Ben. He stands. Rey follows suit. He takes her hand.

They don't even bother bidding goodbye before they're rushing out of the office as fast as they can, hands separating the second they're out of sight, spilling out onto the crowded Manhattan sidewalk like they're already running from the cops. But Rey is quick on her feet and she's had practice eluding law enforcement. She's already ten steps ahead of Ben, both figuratively and literally.

"Okay, so Alaska is _not_ ideal with everything going on with Pryde's authors, but we'll send them an email telling them we're still honoring all contracts and that I'll handle their affairs while we figure out who is going to replace him. In the meantime, go ahead and get the flights — I'll spring for you to fly first class this time so it looks more convincing — but make sure we get the miles — Ben?"

She turns, realizing he's not following. In fact, he's standing still and stiff, glowering at her again with that really intense expression he's worn a couple times today. Like he wants her to fall into a crack in the earth.

She huffs impatiently. "What's your problem?"

"Rey," he growls.

"Look, you're getting awfully familiar with my name. Don't forget the truth in the midst of all this. You're still my assistant and I still expect—"

" _Omega_."

Her words cut off with a gasp because a wave of tingles races down her spine and makes her forget what she was about to say. She blinks dizzily, his scent on her skin springing into her awareness anew.

That's fucking unfair of him to do that to her, and he's never done it before which makes it so...disarming. And she's about to put him back in his place when he's suddenly all up in her business, way too close, anger radiating off him in waves so thick she can almost taste it.

"What?" she snaps, taking a step back, and it's the best she can do to keep her footing because now her instincts and the scent on her neck are both begging her to _submit submit submit please Alpha submit please him_.

"I am the one replacing Pryde," he says slowly and deliberately. "I am the one who will take over his authors."

"Make you an editor?" She scoffs. "You thought we were serious in there?"

"I was serious. I'm risking a felony and federal prison for you. So you're going to do it," he says calmly, his voice low and dark. It's laced with influence and power. He's not using a command on her, he knows better than that, but there's still an apex predator stalking through his baritone words and she can't ignore it. She's never seen this side of him before.

"No." She manages to keep her head this time. Ben deserves the position, he does, but she can't. "First of all, the HR complications _alone_ —"

"Fuck HR. Make me editor, or I'll walk."

"What?"

"I'll quit."

"You wouldn't do that." She _knows_ he wouldn't. "You've worked too hard and suffered too many indignities to walk away now."

"I'll do it. You don't know this, and my uncle doesn't know this, but Alistair Snoke over at Imperial Books? He's been trying to poach me."

"Imperial?" Her face twists horror. "You'd really go there?"

"I don't want to go, but I'd rather do that than whatever the hell this sick game of yours is."

"It's not a g—"

"Fine. I quit. You can tell Luke for me." He straightens, smooths his shirt, and brushes past her to begin striding down the sidewalk.

"Ben, wait!" The _nerve_ of him making her run after him again. Where has all this attitude come from? Is he really so spooked by the threat of prison? He'd probably do fine in prison. He's like...an _alpha's_ alpha. He could have everyone in there falling all over themselves to please him. Not that going to prison is ever a desirable outcome. It won't even come to that. He's just being skittish.

Still, risk him going over to _Imperial?_

"Okay, okay, fine," she says, almost out of breath by the time she catches up to him. "You can be editor. I don't know if you can be editor at RESIST because—"

"Rey," he snarls in such a way that a chill runs down her spine.

"God, alright, alright, you can have Pryde's job. I'll get the approval from Luke and inform the authors by email tonight."

"And you have to read that manuscript I recommended to you."

She makes a noise of disgust. "It's unagent—"

"I don't care. You'll read it."

Rey rubs her temples sighing. He's really on a power trip, and she's never had to rise to meet him like this before. She's exhausted. Fighting her instincts to please him is making her feel a little sick. Is all this worth it?

"Fine, _fine_. Any other demands, Mister Blackmail?"

A nasty, wicked little smirk curls at the corner of his lips. She's never seen that look on him in the three years he's worked for her. It's a cocksure alpha look, and it chills her blood with foreboding.

"I can think of a few more, but I think I'll show you the mercy you've never shown me in all these years and let you off easy. That'll be it."

"Wow, so very generous of you." She scowls and picks at a loose thread under the sleeve of her suit jacket. Cheap fast fashion falling apart again, predictably. It's easier to think about this splitting seam rather than whatever this weird new dynamic is between them. "So we'll just fly up there and tell them and fly home. No big deal. Then we'll get ready for the interview."

Ben's jaw rolls and his intense stare finally moves off of her, over her head. His belligerent look is gone, replaced by a stormy, troubled one. "We're spending the weekend with my family, and we'll tell them on my terms."

"Is Luke going to be there?" Even though he knows about the ruse, Rey isn't sure she can bear a weekend with her boss. Not when she's got to perform this awful charade the whole time. Luke would laugh his ass off. She can't take that kind of humiliation.

"I doubt it." Ben shrugs. "He hasn't come home in decades, but it is his mother's 90th. Who knows?"

"Do I need to pack snowshoes?"

He barks a rough laugh. "Summer in Alaska, Rey. Bring a bikini and flipflops. I'm taking the rest of the day off, by the way. I look forward to that email with my authors. See you at the airport tomorrow."

Watching him walk away with a new confidence in his stride makes her blood boil.

"Extortion is a highly unethical means of promotion," she calls after him.

"Extortion is a highly unethical means of a green card," he calls back, waving and grinning before turning and heading out again.

Dammit.


	3. Chapter 3

Rey does _not_ pack a bathing suit.

In the first place, she doesn't swim. Doesn't know how, has never needed to know how, never wants to learn. The water isn't a place she needs to go, except for baths and showers. And in the second place, she knew he was messing with her, so she googled it and discovered what appropriate Alaskan summer attire is. She's surprised at how warm it says it's supposed to get, though. She supposed, in that vaguely ignorant way, that Alaska meant snow and ice all the time. She's glad to be wrong.

That night, after one of the most confusing days of her life, she drafts an email explaining Pryde's departure from the company and how Ben Solo would be taking over his clients. Her own stubborn ego wants to put in there some snide and snarky things about him, or maybe how it's only a temporary measure until a suitable replacement is found. But she doesn't. She doesn't do it because she doesn't want Ben to read it and renege on their deal, and she doesn't do it because he's a good fit for the job and as much as Rey doesn't want to lose her highly qualified assistant, she wants him to succeed and for these authors to love him.

So her email is complementary, and she sends it to Luke for approval before sending it to the rest of the team.

Luke replies immediately with two gifs of hysterical laughter and a thumbs up. He replies again a minute later with: 

> **I'm still laughing my ass off about this. Kudos to Ben for finding a way to work this situation in his favor. And congratulations to both of you. Give all my love to Leia, Han, and my mother this weekend. Promotion approved, nepotism be damned. I'll handle Mara's objections, don't worry. Go forth and blackmail each other into wedded bliss.**

Rey isn't sure she likes any of that, but what can she do?

What she does is shower and scrub Ben's scent off her as best she can.

What she does _not_ do is replay that stupid scenting incident in the bathroom over and over in her mind as she tries to fall asleep.

And what she does is meet Ben at the airport in the morning. She repeated her rigorous suppressant routine like she does every day, because today is a business venture like any other. He arranged everything as she'd specified when she thought he wasn't listening, so after check-in and boarding, Rey settles comfortably into first class, prepared to ignore him for the entire flight. But it's not so easy as that, because the first thing she notices when they're shoulder-to-shoulder within the confines of the plane is a distinctly _fresh_ whiff of bergamot and cedarwood. It wraps around her, as cool as clean mountain air, inviting and enticing, and it makes her head spin the way his scenting yesterday did.

She knows this scent. Its the one that almost bowled her over the first time he walked into her office.

"Um," she says after a dazed few seconds. "So now that you're not my assistant you think you don't need your blockers?"

"I'm still on blockers, Rey," he says, unruffled as he casually opens a manuscript on his tablet and pulls out his corresponding tablet pen. "I just decided to take a break from those superpills you demand."

"Why?" She grimaces. "Testing your new freedom as editor? There are still other O's in our office and your scent is—"

His dark eyes flick up from the device and meet hers. "Give me your sweater."

"What?"

"You cardigan. Hand it over."

She frowns, reaches down to her carry-on bag, and pulls out the pale blue cardigan she likes to fly with because planes are always cold. They've traveled enough together that he already knows she has it tucked into the side pocket of her bag. "What does this have to do with anything?"

"Just let me see it for a second."

He plucks it out of her hand, meeting no resistance. She's too confused to protest. Ben balls it up and sets it against the window, leaning his head on it like a pillow and shimmying down to make himself comfortable. His attention goes to the manuscript again and she understands this signal means the conversation is over.

She gapes at him. At his audacity. _Stealing her plane sweater_ to use for a pillow? His power trip from yesterday wasn't an isolated incident, apparently, and Rey really isn't sure how she's going to handle this new version of him. "Um, excuse me? Are you going to give it back?"

"Not at the moment, no."

"I bring that for a reason, and it isn't to put your greasy head on."

"I know."

"You go off blockers and now you think you can appropriate my property, is that it? Or are you just seeing how far you can push me before I call the whole thing off?"

"I'm still on blockers," he says again, and offers no further explanation.

It doesn't _smell_ like he's on blockers though. His scent is all around her. Powerful, reeking of virility. And it's a _really_ good scent. It's appealing in a way few alphas can boast of. She feels tremendously conspicuous on his behalf, wondering if the entire plane can smell this ridiculously mouth-watering alpha musk.

Rey grits her teeth and tries to ignore it. It's stronger than it was yesterday, even when it was emblazoned into her skin. She pulls out her own tablet and dicks around for a bit trying to decide what to work on. It's hard to focus. Her throat burns with thirst and for the first time in a long time, something else is nagging at her instead. And it's _not_ the alpha that smells like a breeze blowing through a wide, deep forest.

She connects to the in-flight wifi and googles a list of common INS interview Fiancée Visa questions.

"These are intense," she says with soft dread after looking over the list. "Who knows the answer to some of these? _Where does your fiancé squeeze the toothpaste?_ In the bathroom, I hope. Or is that some kind of weird government euphemism?"

His interest piques and he sets his tablet down, putting her cardigan in his lap instead of giving in back. She eyes it with irritation while he leans over and peers at her list. His scent is even stronger with his head this close to hers.

"I'm sure they meant which part of the tube you squeeze. Anyway, that one," he points. "I know that one."

" _What is your fiancée allergic to?_ I don't have any allergies."

"Yes you do. You're lowkey allergic to apples. Apple skin, to be more precise."

"I am not!"

"Yes, you are. When you eat an apple with skin on—"

"Who peels their apple before eating it?"

"Well, applesauce doesn't do it to you. Neither does apple juice. But when you eat a fresh apple, your face gets red."

"What? No it does not."

"Yes it does. How can you honestly not know this about yourself? Next time you eat an apple, go look in a mirror. You get blotchy here," he touches her cheek and then traces around her eye and up to her forehead, "and here," and then his finger traces downwards to her neck. "And here."

She bats his hand away before he can skate too close to her gland. "Okay, fine. I know you're allergic to Supradyne OM, which is the generic name for that cheap-ass CoolHeat omega suppressant."

He laughs. "How can you possibly know what suppressant she was wearing?"

"I tracked her down and asked her while you were in the bathroom trying to wash it off. She thought it was hilarious." Rey did not share the girl's amusement, but she restrained herself from drop-kicking _Sunny_ across the convention center.

Ben's full lips tease into a half-grin. "You never thought to share that information? It could be useful to me."

She looks away. "I figured if one of your _many_ admirers was wearing it, you'd be too indisposed to ask for confirmation of her suppressant brand."

"True enough. Well now we know."

"Now we know."

"Okay, another," he says, pointing. "Favorite hobbies. You like tinkering with machines and fixing things."

"Why do you think that?" This one is scary accurate — scary because Rey has never let anyone know about her life outside the office, hobbies included.

"One night you asked me to stay late to work on sorting the unspecified PitMad submissions, and I think you forgot I was there. I was at my desk and you were in your office. Your computer broke, and you just took it apart right there and fixed it. I think it was something with the fan."

"The heat sink…"

"Right. You never call IT for hardware issues. When your chair had a busted lumbar support crank, you fixed that too. Things like that have happened several times over the years. You're a tinkerer."

The fact that he's noticed these things makes her bristle. She wants to retaliate with unwarranted knowledge of her own. "Well you're a calligrapher, and a poet. At that conference in Munich when your room flooded from the floor above and you had to come into mine for the night, I saw your brush set when you were drying out your bags. And sometimes when you're not at your desk, I read the pieces of poetry you write on sticky notes and hide where you think no one can see them."

Ben looks surprised. And instead of being annoyed, as she is, he looked almost _pleased_. "How about this one? Favorite color?"

"You like white," she says. "You think it makes a clean aesthetic, and you like that it encompasses all the colors."

He laughs. "Or black. I like both."

"Yes, you do. You favor white, though."

"I'd say that's fair. You like green. But not like a chartreuse or lime. You like a deep, true green. Like an emerald. Like a leaf."

Rey blinks, once again caught off guard by how he knows this. "Yeah, I do."

"Mmhmm. And this one." His cocky smirk manifests again. "Criminal history? I know you're comfortable with fraud, though I don't think I should answer it that way in the interview."

Rey blushes, but her humor fades quickly and she glances away. "Yeah maybe you'd better just lie for that one."

She can feel him studying her, but pretends to look for the service cart instead of meeting his eye.

"Oh shit," he says softly, "you have other stuff on your record?"

"You know what, we've got two weeks to work out these answers. Let's just give it a rest right now. I'm going to nap."

"Wait, wait, wait," he sets her cardigan back up against the window and reclines against it again, crossing his thick arms over his thicker chest. Rey tells herself not to notice. "I've discovered something about the formidable Ms. Johnson that I didn't know? I'm pretty sure we should talk about this. Krennic will sniff that out immediately. Tell me your scandals, baby, and I'll tell you mine."

"No thanks, and never call me that again." She signals a flight attendant. "Can I grab a bottled water, please?"

The flight attendant nods and drifts away again.

"That's something I know about you," he says with lingering amusement. "You don't drink."

"I don't."

"Why is that?"

"Sorry, dead end, next question."

He huffs an exasperated breath. "More secrets. Rey, we have to know these things about each other."

"And yet, some things will remain a mystery."

"Your unknown criminal history and your unwillingness to drink…" He considers for a moment. "Could the two be related?"

"Drop it," she snaps, whirling to give him a nasty glare. "Ask me about either of those things one more time and I'll bury your bones in the Alaskan tundra. Don't think I won't."

He frowns, lifting a brow. "There she is. For a minute I was wondering what happened to Alpha Rey."

"I so _enjoy_ getting to know Chatty Cathy Ben," she bites back without losing a beat.

"Look," he says, sitting forward now so that her cardigan falls behind his back. His eyes are glittering and intense, "you're the one that wants to do this whole charade, so you don't get to be the one to chicken out when it gets personal and uncomfortable."

"I'm not chickening out," she seethes. "I'm drawing lines. Boundaries. And _some_ information is on the wrong side of your boundary. You don't get to know, not even for this."

"If our stories don't align then I go to prison. That's worse than being sent back to England. So you see why 'drawing lines' doesn't work for me."

"Our stories will align just fine. If they ask, you tell them it's something I won't talk about. That's the truth anyway, so you don't even have to lie."

The lines of his mouth harden. "I guess this means we're done asking questions."

"Yes. It does."

The rest of the plane trip is almost totally silent. At least the next couple hours are. Ben makes notes on the manuscript, Rey approves new author contracts and bids for valuable manuscripts. There's an iciness between them that has nothing to do with the cold plane air or the refreshing cleanliness of Ben's scent.

She refuses to ask for her cardigan back. He doesn't offer it. She shivers. He pretends not to notice.

When they begin their final descent into Juneau, Ben finally dumps it back into her lap without ceremony. Rey takes it, at first ready to give him some snarky remark about keeping it so long, but the bite dies on her tongue because the fabric is heavily imbued with his scent now. It permeates the fibers, not thick and heady and drenching like it could but if he'd used it for...for other things, but it's still there. Sure and steady and strong. Like it had been in his place, among his things.

She slips it on and shivers for a different reason than the cold.

"Now they won't wonder why an engaged omega doesn't smell like her alpha, and I won't have to scent you anymore," he rumbles quietly beside her, his voice softer than it was during their last exchange. " _That's_ why I'm not using those super blockers."

It's a good reason. Rey gets it. And his use of the possessive, _her alpha_ , tingles through her again much the same way his similar word use did yesterday. "Should I stop my suppressants?"

"Absolutely not," he says immediately.

She frowns. "It's not a two-way street?"

"No, it isn't. And I'm assuming you don't have backups that you take? Less potent meds?"

"No."

"Then stay on them."

"I could stop using my scent-neutralizing body wash and hair products, at least." Rey isn't exactly excited about the role reversal here where suddenly he's telling _her_ what to do. "That won't trigger anything and at least it'll let me rub off a little onto your things."

"Fine." He sounds cold again, so Rey drops the subject and waits for them to land.

In Juneau they get on a connecting flight to the island of Naboo. It's a terrifyingly tiny plane, just two seats to each row, no center aisle, and she's all pressed between Ben's personal space and the window, so she just kind of closes her eyes and counts the minutes until she can escape.

* * *

The Theed airport is as tiny as its plane, so they exit right onto the tarmac and are immediately greeted by a couple of women enthusiastically waving them down from the fenced pick-up area a few meters away.

"Your fan club?" Rey asks.

"My mother and grandmother," he replies, scooping up their bags from where they're being lobbed out of the belly of the plane onto the asphalt. "Come on. And be polite to them please. They're kind of sticklers for manners."

It takes Rey a horrified minute to follow, because she's seized by a swooping realization and immediate dread. Ben's _mother_. Ben's mother is Luke's sister. And she's known this. Of course she's known this. But until this moment, she's never put the puzzle pieces together that Ben's mother is Luke's very famous, very high-profile sister. The famed Leia Organa, influential senator and champion of omega rights, even though she herself is an alpha. She retired a decade or more ago to go back to her family business, but she's remained one of Rey's absolute heroes. Any time Luke talks about his sister, she gets utterly starstruck. But she's never thought about how Luke only has one sister, and one nephew, and therefore the two must be related.

Oh fuck.

The person she's kept Ben from visiting all this time, refusing him weekends and holidays, is _Leia Organa_.

The woman Rey is going to lie to about being engaged to her son.

She feels sick.

"You coming or not?" Ben tosses over his shoulder, halfway across the tarmac already. She drags her feet after him, mouth ashy. Even his scent in her clothes is not enough to soothe her sudden nausea or panic. She can't lie to Leia. Or, she can. But what happens if they're caught? This woman probably still has connections in very high places. And Rey wants her approval, not her disgust.

Right away, it's difficult.

Right away, Leia Organa _Solo_ slides right out of all those high-powered career pictures of her and into mushy mom-mode, practically tackling her giant mountain of a son with a happy cry.

"Ben! I can't believe you're finally here!"

Alpha mothers usually have tumultuous relationships with their alpha children, Rey has heard. But she senses no difficulties here. They both seem genuinely happy to see each other again. Ben scoops his short mother up in a huge bear hug.

And then there's Padme, Leia's mother who is exactly as tiny as her daughter, all wrinkles and fashionably styled white hair and fashionably forward clothing. Luke one time said his mother was a senator too, long ago — one of the first female senators ever, _and_ an omega to boot. She was truly revolutionary for her time. Rey probably owes her a great deal too, and this only adds to her anxiety.

"Where's your lady?" Padme asks after taking her turn to hug her grandson. "Luke said we'd love her."

"She's here," he says, turning to motion.

"Hi," Rey says awkwardly, hoisting her carry-on bag strap higher on her shoulder.

"Mom, Grams, this is Rey. Rey, my mother, Leia, my grandmother, Padme."

"Hello Rey," Leia says with a smile, opening her arms to pull Rey in for a quick, barely-there hug. "We've heard a lot about you."

"So much," agrees Padme, giving her a grin. "Some good, some bad."

"Oh, I'm surprised you've heard anything good." Rey shoots Ben a little look. The picture he's probably painted to his family of her. Three years of _sorry, can't, the devil's making me work again._ Fuck, she's already on bad footing with these women and she hasn't even begun.

Ben lifts his hands with a little grin. "The good part must have come from Luke."

Leia laughs. "Apparently you two outing your relationship is causing quite the scandal over there! Luke said no one knew! How could you keep it a secret so long?"

Rey winces at the idea of anyone at the office finding out about it. The only way they'd know is if Luke had said anything, and she has a funny feeling that's exactly what he did. Damn him. But maybe he was just trying to help, in his strange way.

"Things were complicated, Mom," Ben sighs. "They still are, honestly."

"Nothing complicated about it," Padme chirps. "It's just a little patch of skin, and it really doesn't even hurt."

Rey blushes and grits her teeth in a fake smile, giving Ben a sharp elbow nudge. "I thought you said your family was old fashioned about claiming."

"Oh, we are," Leia laughs. "Well, rather, my mother isn't. She was kind of a rebel back in her day. She let my dad claim her before they got married. But Luke and I were taught to be more careful with the big bite, and I raised Ben the same way. If you aren't willing to make it legal, and if you aren't willing to promise before God, you have no business making it permanent."

"Yeah, yeah," Ben says impatiently. "Are we going to stand around here getting to know each other or can we do that at home?"

"Yes, let's get you two back to the fort," Padme says, wrinkled face alight with excitement. She loops her arm through Rey's. "It'll be nice to have another omega around for once," she confides cheekily. "Too many alpha pheromones running around for too long. We could use a softer touch."

"Oh, I uh…" Rey falters because this fancy old woman is too much in her space, nobody is _ever_ this much in her space — except yesterday's little ill-advised scenting episode — and also because she isn't sure she _has_ a softer touch. She's been living in alpha mode almost her entire life.

"It's okay," Padme whispers, and there's a conspiratorial edge to her voice. "I know how it is. I had to be the same way when I was your age. But you don't have to be guarded with us, darling. You can relax and find your inner peace while you're here."

Rey has no idea what her _inner peace_ would look like, and she's more unsettled than comforted by this advice. Still, she just smiles politely and nods anyway.

Ben puts their suitcases in the back of his mother's old truck and they all pile in. Leia and Padme sit up front, Rey and Ben in the back. Rey is silent as they drive, incredibly uncomfortable and unsure how to act. Ben seems more at ease. He stretches an arm out behind her, resting it on the back of the seat, body canted a little in her direction. Like they're not oil and water pretending to get along. He chats with his mother about people she doesn't know, catching up on gossip she has no way to relate to. She wonders briefly if she should lean into him. If she should really try to sell the lie with some low-level PDA. But she just can't bring herself to do it, so she swallows hard and reads the signs they pass instead.

The town is shockingly quaint, like Rey would expect to find if someone built a theme park dedicated to Alaskan gold mining and Yukon exploration. Main street is populated with old shops and authentically antique storefronts. Theed's oldest signs seem to be in Russian. She can see faded old Russian letters on the sides of buildings. She wants to ask Ben about them, but doesn't dare interrupt. There's another culture here too, swirled into the Russian-American kitschy western vibe. Little totems and symbols interspersed among the glimpses of town, like the indigenous population retained a strong foothold.

She should have read Theed's Wikipedia page before coming here. She suddenly wants to know everything.

A surprising amount of signs read _Amidala_. There's a pharmacy with the name, a general store, a photography studio, a tourist souvenir shop, a bank, a cafe, and others she barely catches before they've passed.

There's a lull in the conversation, so she asks. "What's Amidala?"

"Oh, that's my maiden name," Padme says brightly. "My family owned a lot of property, as you can tell. That all belongs to Leia now. Luke didn't care for any of it. It'll all be Ben's someday, if he wants it."

Rey glances at the giant man beside her, but he turns his attention out the window. He's never mentioned being the heir to a whole Alaskan town before. He's never mentioned a lot of things. Is that her fault, for never allowing him an identity outside her assistant? Or is it possible that he too has secrets about his personal life which he would not choose to share with her, if she asked?

They drive a few minutes longer, all the while Padme talks about her parents, her mother's indigenous heritage, her father's colonial pride. Finally they pull into a little parking lot labeled _Marina._ There are ladders disappearing down the side of a small cliff, down to boats waiting at slips below. The second Ben hauls the bags out of the back of the truck and starts towards one of these ladders, Rey feels a sudden, suffocating flash of panic.

Not a boat.

They're not honestly going to ride on a boat.

Incredibly spry for her age, Padme climbs down the ladder first, Leia following close behind. Ben drops the bags down to them and they load them into — yes, a boat. Theirs, obviously. It's some kind of motorboat, no sails or anything, but Rey couldn't begin to label anything further about it. Without another word of acknowledgement, Ben starts to climb down the ladder.

"Ben," Rey hisses, eyeing the churning water jostling dock and the boat's hull below. "Ben, I'm not comfortable around water."

"Yeah, I knew this already," he says, lowering himself another rung.

"I'm not getting on that thing."

"Then enjoy the town for a few days or head back directly if you want. I'll see you back at the office on Monday."

She gapes at him, horrified that he can be so unfeeling. But then, hasn't she treated him the same way over the years? Still, it infuriates her. Isn't he supposed to be the alpha here? Does biology compel him to…take her needs into consideration? And right now she really _needs_ to stay on firm, unmoving, dry land.

"Ben," she pleads, trying again. "I can't swim."

"That's why we have the boat." He drops down onto the deck and turns to the two matriarchs.

"Benji," his mother chides, "shouldn't you give Rey a hand down the ladder? You're not being very gentlemanly."

"Mom," he sighs, "my omega isn't like most omegas. She doesn't want to be coddled. She's stubborn and independent."

Rey hears him as she's navigating the ladder, riled again by this comment but too anxious now to do anything about it. She can hear the water sloshing below, the boat squeaking gently against the buoys.

"Then she suits you, doesn't she?" Leia teases affectionately. "Now go and help her."

"An omega in leadership can't let herself be ordinary," Padme intones philosophically. "If she is, people will walk all over her. She must channel the inner alpha until it consumes her."

"Yeah, that's lovely that you two have something to bond over," Ben says a little begrudgingly, and Rey feels his hands on her ribs, sliding to her waist, guiding her down the last few rungs of the ladder. He takes a liberty. He slips one of his palms over the round of her butt, cupping her with one hand, guiding her down with another.

She drops onto the dock with both feet and momentarily flails for support as the boards beneath her gently rock with the water. Ben grabs her and steadies her. At first she's grateful, but it's fleeting because then she remembers the feel he coped, and as soon as she has her balance, she twists her hand to clasp his wrist and yank him in close, lip curling, snarl barely contained to a private volume.

"Touch my ass again and I'll stick a knife through your knot, got it?"

His smokey eyes widen momentarily and then the smallest of smirks dances over his plush, close lips. His scent swirls around her. "My omega loves to give me her violent threats, doesn't she?"

Rey makes a noise of disgust and shoves him away again, purposefully striding to the boat and climbing aboard despite her fears.

"You two are so cute," Leia sighs. "I'm so happy Ben found a nice omega to settle down with after all this time."

Rey doesn't know _what_ this woman thought she saw, but it wasn't nice. Padme gives her a grin and a wink.

Ben gets in and unties the boat from its mooring. He pulls out a life jacket from beneath one of the seats and tosses it at Rey before assuming the helm. Rey puts it on and refuses to feel even an ounce of gratitude. Nobody else is wearing one, but she feels safer with it on. As they pull away from the dock with a throaty engine gurgle, she closes her eyes and drinks a deep gulp of fresh ocean air.

This is going to be a long weekend.


	4. Chapter 4

The boat ride is unpleasant. The jarring smack of the hull over icy Alaskan waters makes Rey grit her teeth and pray for it to be over. It's too noisy for any kind of conversation below shouting-volume, so there's no distraction from the heaving open water. Rey watches Ben pilot the craft instead, trying to focus on the mechanics of driving a boat and not on all the ways drowning would be a horrible death. Are there sharks this far North? If she fell overboard, would they eat her?

Mostly she's baffled about why they're even _on_ a boat. Who chooses to live in a place most conveniently accessed over the water? It's unfathomable.

Still, at least it's not a long trip.

When the boat slows and she finally lets herself look up to locate their destination, it's all she can do to stop her jaw from physically dropping. The house is perched on a peninsula, barely peeking through a fortress of pines standing sentinel along the dramatic buttress of bare cliff-face. The house is enormous and sprawling, and she can see a barn and a guest house and another structure that definitely looks like it houses an indoor swimming pool.

"Welcome home!" Padme says cheerfully.

Rey has never seen anywhere that looked less like a _home_ in her life. This looks like a hotel. Like a luxury hotel only the super-wealthy can afford, on a huge estate where they can lavishly spend their excess money.

Ben docks the boat like an expert, like he's been doing it his whole life, at the fancy little slip at the fancy little boathouse at the bottom of the cliff. He probably _has_ been doing it his whole life, and for some reason this makes Rey feel unreasonably incensed. She's been fighting off _guilt_ all this time? Guilt for treating this spoiled rich kid like he's no better than the rest of them? She has _nothing_ to apologize for. She's had to fight tooth and nail for everything she's ever gotten in life, and he's just coasting along on enormous privilege. If anything she should have been harder on him.

There's a railed walkway zigzagging up the side of the cliff, and Leia and Padme start up it immediately after disembarking. Ben grabs the bags while Rey unclips her life vest and scrambles out after them. She's once again surprised by Padme's energy. For a woman of 90, she's incredibly spry.

When the little assembly gets to the top, Rey's eyes nearly pop out of her head because the house and its surrounding grounds are even bigger up close. This definitely isn't a _real_ place. Not a place a kid grows up in. She suddenly envisions a small child of Ben's general features running naked and wild around this remote corner of the world, privacy ensured by the vast palace built to shield him from a harsh world. Pain and anger flash through her again.

She whirls in her tracks, and Ben stumbles to a stop before he can run right over her with their suitcases. She pokes his chest, keeping her voice to a low hiss so his mother and grandmother won't hear. "Why did you tell me you were poor?"

"I have never once told you I was poor," he remarks dryly.

"Nagging me for a raise?"

"I'd be an idiot to _not_ ask for a raise after all the shit I do for you."

Her eyes narrow. "You're getting a real mouth on you now that you're—"

"Being coerced into committing fraud for you? I know. Really frees up all those pesky constraints of professionalism, don't you think?" He smirks and Rey's blood boils.

"Why didn't you tell me you were _rich?_ " She motions at the house.

Ben's glance flicks up to it, and he shrugs. "I'm not rich. My parents are rich."

"That's something only a rich person says," Rey grumbles, turning around to march on up to the ridiculous house.

It's kind of astonishing that someone born into this much privilege has lasted this long merely being an assistant. Especially an _alpha_ born into this much privilege. An alpha working for an omega who has only recently climbed out of the quagmire of being _dirt poor_. Why did he put up with it? Surely he knew he was destined for better things. Maybe he went to Degobah because he thought his uncle would put him into some cushy executive position. Maybe he's been quietly burning up with resentment all this time that Luke decided to teach him about humility and made him an assistant instead.

"Hey, Ben!" someone up ahead calls, and Rey looks up to see a thin man with red hair and a crooked grin strolling out of the house waving. "Welcome home!"

"Hux?" Ben sounds confused. When they get to him, the two men briefly embrace.

 _Omega_ , Rey's nose interprets immediately by the blast of oakmoss and leather. It's not a bad scent, but she's surprised by how strong it is. Has the guy never heard of suppressants?

"What's up? Did my mom invite you?" Ben asks as they part.

"Yeah, man! It's a party!" The red-haired omega says with a grin.

"Mom," Ben calls over to Leia before she and his grandmother can disappear inside.

She turns, hands already on her hips, defense at the ready. "Oh, relax, Benji. It's just a little welcome home party for everyone who loves you and has missed you for the last three years. No big deal."

Ben passes a hand over his face, eyes rolling shut in a look of supreme exasperation.

The male omega laughs. "It's not a crime, Benjamin. Just fifty of your closest friends and neighbors. Nothing wrong with that."

Ben grimaces. He seems to remember the reason for this homecoming and finally motions to Rey. "Hux, this is Rey, my fiancée. Rey, this is Hux, my best friend since high school."

The omega sticks out his hand with a big grin. "Pleasure to meet you, Rey."

She shakes it as she would any other distant professional. She's a little surprised that Ben's best friend in high school was an omega. She thought alpha types usually stuck together and only saw omega as prey. Her attention doesn't linger here for long, though. Apparently this one introduction is the first of many, and now she's full of dread. Her gaze shifts from the ginger to the enormous house behind him, apparently full of people to meet. Great.

Hux follows her attention. "They'll be polite. Don't worry."

Polite isn't really the issue. It's this stupid lie she's got to sell for a bigger audience.

At her lack of reply, Hux gives Ben a reproachful shove. "It _smells_ like you prepared her for the grand introduction, making sure none of us could scent anything but you about her, but look at her, she's all nervous. You didn't think to warn her?" He clucks disapprovingly.

"I didn't know there was going to _be_ a grand introduction," Ben growls, pushing past him, and something about the spike in his scent reads territorial. Rey wonders at it as she follows him up to the house.

"What's the matter with him?" she asks, glancing back over his shoulder. "Why does he smell like he's advertising his designation to the nearest interested alpha?"

"People up here aren't as strict about blockers and suppressants as we are in the city," he replies begrudgingly and he sets their suitcases by some chairs on the porch. "They're harder to come by, for one, and even the cheap brands are more expensive because of shipping costs, and a lot of people just don't really have a need for them. If you're mated, there's no need, and if you're single — a lot of folks think that it just leads you to find your perfect match faster."

Rey laughs. "People actually believe that shit up here?"

"Yes," Ben says with a frown. "They do. I know it's hard, but try not to insult my family and friends with your cynicism, okay?"

"My cynicism?"

"Yes. Your heartlessness."

Her eyes narrow. "Whoa, pal, you wanna try calling me _heartless_ one more time?"

Ben leans down, getting right in her face again, and his eyes are flashing with something _wicked_. "You know what everyone around the office says about you?"

Before he can get it out, the door whips open and Ben jerks to a stand, whirling to see his grandmother shaking her head at them. "Ben! You can kiss your fiancée all you want _later_. Right now you have a lot of guests who would like to meet her, so come on!"

Rey jerks reflexively as Ben's hand finds hers, but he's holding on too tight for her to get away. A moment later she's being pulled through the door into a crush of people all enthusiastically greeting Ben with the kind of warmth and love Rey has never felt in her whole life.

They're eager to shower it on her too, it turns out. As Ben introduces her, they gush about how happy they are, how pretty she is, how lucky Ben is, how long they've waited for him to find his _perfect mate_. And maybe the warning did some good because Rey is careful not to laugh again, careful not to mock these remote Alaskans for the absurdity of the idea that there is one ultimate, divinely appointed partner for every person. Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the balance in the universe. She can see all that nonsense lives bright in the minds of most these people, so she holds her tongue and deftly maneuvers out of their hugs when they try to give them.

A few do make some comments about her scent, mostly teasing how Ben has left so much of him all over her that she's hard to find beneath it. Rey _hates_ this. She hates that all they know of her is what Ben has put there. She hates that her identity is being swallowed up in his.

 _Just get through this_ , she tells herself, _and you'll have a green card._

Somehow in all the chaos, she and Ben get pulled apart. They're swirled away from each other in eddies of enthusiastic well-wishers.

"It's lovely to meet you," one woman says with a genuinely kind expression. Rey blinks at her, disoriented by all the new faces. She does conferences. She networks. She knows how to navigate a crowd. But these people aren't here to talk books or business. They keep trying to ask her about herself, or ask her about her relationship with Ben.

The woman before her smiles and extends a hand. "Welcome to Theed. I'm Zorri."

Zorri is beautiful in a way Rey thinks maybe doesn't belong to Theed. She's too pretty for this place. She has the look of someone who belongs on the stage, or on the screen. Her scent, like everyone else here who isn't a beta, is stronger than what she's used to. It's all Omega. Like fresh laundry and chamomile.

"Thank you," Rey says, hoping she doesn't sound as worn out as she feels.

"So you work with Ben at Luke's publishing house?"

It's unbelievably offensive how the people here talk about Degobah Publishing, like it's just Luke's quaint little bookshop, rather than one of the biggest and most influential publishing companies in the world.

Rey grits her teeth and forces a smile, nodding once.

Someone calls Zorri's attention and she excuses herself. Rey immediately relocates Ben a few clusters of people away. She manages to make her way over to him without being pulled aside by anyone else. He's chatting to some older beta gentleman who lets Ben go when he sees Rey approaching.

"Why didn't you tell me you were so popular?" she hisses softly when he turns to her. "I'm starting to agree with your friend out there, you should have warned me you were some kind of Alaskan Kennedy."

"First of all, I didn't think I'd have to introduce you to half the island until Gram's birthday party," he hisses right back. "I thought I'd have time to prepare us both for the task. And second of all, when would I have had the chance to tell you _anything_ about my life? For the last three years, I've been nothing to you but an extra set of arms to help you multi-task better."

" _That_ is not true," she grinds out.

"It is, but you don't like hearing it out loud because it reminds you that you step on people to prove to yourself that you're no one's omega."

She seizes his bicep and drags him into an adjoining room — some kind of den or library, maybe — where there are far fewer people, and bodily shoves him behind a giant potted plant for a modicum of privacy. "You know what? _This_ is not the place to hash out my issues or yours. This bickering between us? It has to stop or no one is going to buy this story, and that aggressive INS agent is going to interview all of them and this whole thing will have been for nothing. People need to think we're in love, or else what are we doing here?"

"I'm not sure you're capable of pretending to have feelings," he says. "Can you manage it?"

Good lord, she really hates him right now. She sucks in a steadying breath through her nose, even tough it _burns_ with his scent. She's dealt with all kinds of crises at work, all kinds of difficult people and impossible situations. She can deal with this now too. She _will_ survive this, and to survive it, she has to adapt. So she will adapt.

"I can act," she says coolly, her features smoothing into a nasty little smile. "Can you?"

"Better than you know," he says with a responding smirk.

"We'll see," she steps back and offers him her hand this time. He takes it.

* * *

A couple of young people stop them almost as soon as they get back into the big living room where most of the guests are milling about with refreshments in hand.

"Ben, hi!" one of them — a young woman (another omega, Rey realizes with an unexpected twinge of displeasure) chirps first. "Welcome home!"

"Rose," Ben greets with a fond smile. "Finn. How are you?"

"So good," says Finn, the alpha male at Rose's side. He grins at her. "You gonna introduce us?"

Ben lets go of Rey's hand to slide his own to the small of her back. "Guys, this is Rey Johnson, my fiancée. Rey, this is Rose Tico and Finn Storm, they're some friends of mine from high school too."

"Actually it's Finn Tico now," says the other alpha with a grin. "We sent you the invitation. It was last year."

"That's right, I forgot that happened. I'm so sorry I couldn't make it, guys," Ben says, and he sounds genuinely sorry.

Rey wants to ask more about this strange relationship where the dominant partner took his omega's last name, but Ben's touch is distracting and there's something here about him missing a _wedding_ and now Rose is already asking her another question, so she quickly loses her train of thought.

"So you're an editor at Degobah, right?"

Rey nods. "I'm the director of RESIST. It's an imprint of Degobah."

"Oh my gosh, I _love_ Resistance books!" Rose's eyes grow big and round with wonder. She leans forward. "Did you do _Kismet_?"

Oh. Books. Yes, Rey can talk books. She can talk books all day. For the first time since this all began, a genuine and eager grin unfolds over her face. "Oh my god, are you kidding? One of my favorites of all time."

"Me too!" Rose gushes, her eyes sparkling. "I ship Kisthilien so hard I draw fan art of them in my spare time."

Finn laughed. "She really does. She's actually amazing at it too. You guys should hire her to be an illustrator."

"Finn." Rose looks at him with horror, color sweeping over her cheeks. "That puts them in such an awkward spot, don't do that."

"I ship them too," Rey says with a conspiratorial whisper. "I'd love to see your art sometime. I can't promise a job, of course, but I really want to see it."

"Okay!" Rose's smile is back now, infectious and sunny. She glances at Ben. "Did you work on that one too?"

"Yep," he says. He sounds affectionate. "It's a good one."

"What exactly do you two do, anyway?" Finn wonders. "Is a book editor like...the one who catches typos and stuff and makes sure it's ready to print?"

"That's a good question, Finn," says a rough voice coming up behind them. "I'd like to know that answer myself."

They turn, and Rey immediately knows this is Ben's father. Not only from his scent, which is adjacent in its profile, but from his smirky little alpha grin, which is not really a nice grin at all. It's got bite in it.

"Dad," Ben says stiffly.

"Ben," his father replies. He looks at Rey and extends his hand. "Hello, I'm Ben's father, you must be Rey."

"I am. Nice to meet you Mister Solo."

"I suppose you should call me Han, shouldn't you? If you're going to be in our family now." He shoots Ben this _look_ , and Rey has no idea what it means but a flare of protectiveness rises within her and she wants to step between them. An alpha son of two alpha parents. It's a medical marvel that they were able to conceive at all. Things must have been _tense_ growing up in this family.

"So, Ben, tell us — what do you do exactly, besides taking writers out to lunch and catching typos?"

"The lunch part sounds fun," Rose grins. "No wonder you like being an editor, Ben."

"Oh, no, Rose," Han cuts in quickly. "Ben isn't an editor. He's an assistant. Rey's assistant, actually."

"So you're Ben's boss?" Rose blinks in surprise.

Finn gets this funny grin and then laughs. "Wow, so this relationship has all kinds of fun power dynamics, doesn't it? Is it rude of me to ask who tops?"

Rose smacks him. "It absolutely is! Rey, I'm so sorry, excuse him. We go way back with Ben and...well, you know how it is with old friends."

No, she doesn't, but she gives Rose a reassuring smile anyway.

Ben is hardly paying attention to them because he and his father are locked in a kind of begrudging staring match. Finally his father shakes his empty glass, the ice clinking.

"Think I'll go get a refill," he drawls and saunters away again.

Ben's gaze immediately darts to Rey before he stalks off after his fathr, fists balling.

"Don't mind them," Rose assures her with a light, comforting touch to the arm. "They're always like that. They have been ever since Ben was a teenager. They antagonize each other. Personally, I think it's awesome that you're Ben's boss."

"He actually is an editor now," Rey manages to say, seized by the terrible urge to go to Ben and save him from harm from this older, more threatening alpha. "He's not my assistant anymore. He's really talented and great at his job. Excuse me, I'll be right back."

She hurries off to stand surreptitiously near the hors d'oeuvres, close but not _too_ close to where Ben and his father are currently arguing in hushed tones. It's a dizzying spread of food, but Rey barely considers anything in front of her, too fixated on the exchange.

"Actually I think you're going to like her," Ben's saying under his breath. "If you'd stop being an asshole for five minutes, you'd see it."

"Am I? What on earth makes you think it's okay to bring her here? This woman you've been an indentured servant to for three years. The reason you miss your friends' weddings, your mother's birthday, every holiday — this omega you've complained about rare times your mother manages to get you on the phone. Why did you bring her?"

"Because we're getting married and I wanted you all to meet her."

"Yeah, your mother told me about that bullshit. I laughed so hard almost popped a hernia. My son, sleeping his way to a mediocre job at a company run by his own uncle."

"Degobah is one of the biggest companies in the world, Dad, there's nothing mediocre—"

"Goddamnit, Ben, grow a spine. Make something of your own for once in your sorry life. Stop following everyone else around and stake your _own_ claim in this world."

"You don't want me to do that, Dad, you want me to follow _you_."

"I want you to stop kowtowing to some cold-blooded omega and find some sense of personal pride."

"That woman is one of the most respected literary minds in the industry. Anything she touches turns to publishing gold. Luke was right to make me her assistant. I've learned a lot from her, and I'm not ashamed of the work I've done or who I've done it for."

"She's your rut doll and your fast pass into a promotion, and you've brought her home to meet your mother because that godless city has robbed you of any sense of shame."

"She's my fiancee, Dad, and if you talk about her that way one again I'll—"

"What? You'll fight me? Want to put me in the hospital again, boy?"

Rey jerks her head up sharply in surprise, only to find herself staring directly into the dark eyes of a handsome alpha with black curly hair, warm olive skin and a swarthy shadow of stubble over his sharp jaw. He grins at her. She's catches a strong whiff of sandalwood and seaside smoke.

"You should try the salmon," he says, motioning to some crackers. "Can't come to Alaska and not try our famous salmon right from the source."

"I'm not a fish person," she says, hoping that will end the exchange.

"You'll love it," he says dismissively, putting a cracker on her plate and pushing it into her hands. "Trust me, you've just never tried the right fish."

"No, I'm not—"

"Are you allergic?"

"No, it's more of a texture thing." Rey glances behind her. She wants to hear Ben and his father, not talk about fish, but this alpha guy is pretty insistant and she's lost track of them anyway — they moved off somewhere else. She stifles a disappointed sigh. There were layers to Ben here that she wanted to uncover. Eavesdropping was rude as fuck but it was vastly preferable to trying to ask him about it herself.

"I'm Poe," he says with that charming grin again.

She supposes this is as good a meaningless conversation to get into as any. "Good to meet you, Poe. I'm Rey."

"I know." He glances around, leans forward, and whispers. "You're all anyone here can talk about. It's a pretty big shock that Ben found a mate, to be honest. We all kind of thought maybe he'd die alone."

"We're not mated."

He reaches forward and twitches aside some of her hair, eyes landing on her gland. "Oh, trust me, honey, I know. You smell like him but you don't smell like him in the right way."

She steps back from the touch, instincts shivering with warning. "Why'd you think he'd die alone? Was he shy in high school?"

She knows this is another childhood friend. He's the right age, and this island isn't that big.

Poe laughs. "No, not shy. Well, reserved, I guess. But it more had to do with what happened between him and Zorri. I know New York is a big place, but after they broke up we were all pretty sure he was destined to be alone. We knew he was never going to find anyone as amazing as Zorri. We all thought they were — well, you know. _Perfect._ But I'm happy to be wrong!"

He adds this last part hurriedly, like he doesn't want her to get offended.

Rey's eyes dart to the omega she met earlier, the really beautiful one, and something in her chest squeezes tight. Her skin feels itchy. Zorri and Ben? They're...exes?

"Friends, I have an announcement!" Leia's voice cuts through the room, commanding the attention of all her guests. Ben's head pokes in from the kitchen, and Leia motions for him to come. She cranes and searches until her eyes land on Rey next, and she repeats the gesture.

Rey doesn't bother excusing herself from Poe. She sets the uneaten salmon and cracker on her plate down onto the table and threads her way through the crowd towards mother and son.

"My mother's birthday party will be on Sunday, and I expect you all in attendance," Leia is busy telling everyone. When Rey gets there, she takes her hand in one of her own, and one of Ben's in her other. "And I know most of you have heard, but in case you hadn't, I wanted to make it a formal announcement so you know why we're busting out the champagne. My son is getting married! Ben and Rey are engaged, and we're so thrilled for them. So come get your glass because this is a day of celebration."

A cheer and murmur of approval moves through the guests. Waiters immediately discharge from the kitchen and begin to distribute the celebratory glasses.

Rey's cheeks are warm, but not as tight and warm as Leia's hug when she turns to give it. "I'm so happy for you two," she whispers before flitting away to join her guests.

She's replaced by a crowd of well-wishers who hadn't had a chance to talk to them yet. Ben's hand reaches out and catches Rey's, pulling her into his side in a gesture that feels unmistakably protective. His scent is jealous again. Normally Rey would resent this kind of treatment, but right now, with so many strangers and their effusive displays of affection around, she'll take it. She half-hides behind his body, remembering how he seemed like an enormous shield when Pryde was yelling at her.

"Ben, hi."

"Zorri." Ben doesn't sound surprised to see her. Maybe he'd already spotted her. Maybe he's been paying attention to her this whole time. "How are you?"

"I'm really good. Life is nice right now. It's so great to see you again."

"Yeah, you too. I'm glad things are going well." He turns slightly, and Rey is less-hidden. "Zorri, have you met Rey?"

"We did meet, yeah." Zorri's green eyes are warm and friendly. She doesn't look at Rey like a rival. Like someone who stole her alpha. "I'm really happy for you guys."

Rey isn't so noble. She wants this stunning, elegant, homey-smelling omega to disappear. She wants her to sink into the crust of the earth and never emerge. An ugly, territorial thing surges in her chest and she actively fights back the urge to shove this woman away from her alpha.

 _Not mine_ , she reminds herself carefully. _This is all a lie._

"Thank you," Rey says instead of doing any of the violent things in her head.

"So I don't think I heard the story. Did you already tell it?" Zorri grins.

"What story?" asks Ben.

"The story of how you proposed!"

From a comfortable spot on the nearby couch, a shamelessly eavesdropping Padme chimes in. "I know my grandson. I taught him impeccable tase. I know he proposed in a most tasteful way." Her wicked gaze sharpens as she levels it on Ben. "Didn't he?"

Ben clears his throat. "Ah..."

"I'd like to hear the story too, actually," Leia says, settling down next to her mother and handing her a glass of champagne. "Please tell us, Ben."

A few others standing around murmur eagerly, the little crowd settling in for a good retelling. Rose and Finn have joined them too. That omega from outside, Hux, he's there as well, a tall woman beside him with hair so blond it's almost white. She's built like an alpha. There are a _lot_ of expectant faces staring at them now.

Rey's heart flutters anxiously in her chest and now she wants to disappear herself. She glances at Ben, who glances back at her. They should have worked this story out. Of course they should have. Krennic would likely ask something similar in his interviews. This was maybe good dress rehearsal, except they had no lines prepared. No script.

"Um..." Ben is definitely floundering. It's not a normal look for him. Rey has seen him keep his cool when authors are screaming at him, demanding explanations for why their cover art doesn't look like they imagined, or wanting to know why their royalty checks are small. She's seen him improvise to woo agents or appease disgruntled employees or schmooze retailers. He's developed a cool head over the years. But right now, he looks completely lost.

"You know what? Actually, Rey likes telling this story," he says suddenly, and she can see his panic shift to smug triumph as he punts the problem over to her.

Nope. She does not want the spotlight. These are _his_ people. They don't know her, she doesn't know them, and she's not about to be put on this stage right now. But Rey is good at improvising too, and for as cool as Ben is in sticky situation's, she's cooler. She won't hold this hot potato. It's up to him to catch it in time.

She manages to conjure a deep blush and glances around at everyone. "Ben, I'm not sure..." she demurs, making herself coy and sweet.

His brow lifts. He knows she's up to something. Good. "Go on, baby, you're a great storyteller and it's always so much better when you talk about that night."

"Um, well..." she presses two cool hands to her cheeks. "Okay, I mean, so this was technically the _first_ time he proposed, and it really was sweet — he was all doe-eyed and blissed out, chatting away like he was high, talking about how great we are together, how we should get married — but then, he always gets like that when we're knot—"

"NO!" Ben barks, his whole body lurching forward to catch her around the waist and swing her around behind him, hiding her and her horrible story from everyone else's view. "No, no, no, she's kidding, no. That's not — I mean that isn't—"

Rey can see the tips of his ears through his dark hair turning pink, and satisfaction curls in her gut like a contented cat. She smirks. There's a ripple of laughter through the room. They aren't that scandalized. Ben rakes a hand through his hair. "No, okay, the _real_ proposal actually happened at work."

Rey steps out from behind him to scrutinize his face. He's thinking fast, but he looks certain. Like it's a memory and not a hastily worked up story.

Padme frowns in disapproval. "At work?"

"I know, I know, Grams," Ben says, hurrying to reassure her. "But hear me out. We were the only ones left at the office, working super late on a big book we knew would be an instant best-seller. There was a lot to organize surrounding its release."

That happened a lot, actually. This was a believable premise. Rey was impressed.

"I had it all planned out. I knew we'd be the only ones working that late, so we'd be alone. And I knew this was my moment. I ordered takeout from our favorite place — no, it's not super romantic. They're street tacos from a shop where the old lady who makes them only speaks Spanish. Rey loves them."

She does love them. They're her favorite. She chews her lip, something funny squeezing tight in her stomach.

Ben's on a roll now. "So I whip out some candles because I want this to be _right_ , and tell her we should turn our late night into a date night. And we have wine and street tacos and we talk about the book. Near the end of it, I pull out this tattered old copy of _Emily of New Moon_ , by Lucy Maude Montgomery, you know? It's Rey's favorite book in the world. Has been since she was a kid. I found a first edition. So I give it to her. I tell her everything I admire about her, like how incredibly brilliant and resourceful she is, how she doesn't get intimidated by anyone, how she's funny without meaning to be, and how she does this thing when she's feeling particularly vulnerable but she doesn't want anyone to know, so she kind of bites her lip — all the things that made me fall in love with her. And I told her that, just like how the book is about finding home when you're all alone in the world, I hoped she could find a home with me. And then she opened the book and the ring was right there."

There's a collective coo from their listeners. Rey's jaw clenches tight, her heart _hammering_ in her chest like it wants to escape. Her eyes are stinging and she wants to shove Ben off a cliff into the Alaskan sea because _how fucking dare he_ tell a story like that?!

"And she said yes," he finishes with a soft laugh.

"Ben, that's so beautiful!" Padme crows, sniffling and wiping her eyes. "What a gentleman."

"Kiss her!" someone shouts.

"A story like that should end with a kiss!" someone else agrees.

Everyone immediately latches onto the idea, and a chorus of "Yeah, Ben, kiss her!" rises out of them.

"You won't have taco breath this time!"

"Do it!"

"Kiss!"

They start to chant together and Rey is definitely sure she's gonna fall down and give up the ghost. This is a nightmare. She's still swallowing back a surge of emotion she did not want to feel and he's still looking at her the way he did when he was talking about all the things he loves about her, and she last thing she wants to do right now is _kiss him_.

"No, no," Ben says, glancing at the rest of them. "That's not for your nosey eyes."

"Come on, Benji," his mother cajoles.

"Just one little kiss, Ben!" Padme rejoins. "Such a beautiful story. End it the right way!"

The chanting grows more insistent, and Rey is more and more flustered.

"Don't you fucking do it," she growls under her breath, because she can see his resolve crumbling.

He slips an arm around her and pulls her in, ducking to plant his lips on her cheek.

Their audience groans.

"What was that?" Leia demands. "A proper kiss, Benji!"

But the cheek kiss was enough to knock Rey off her mental footing. She's suddenly remembering how his lips felt on her neck, hot tongue sliding over her gland, his scent drowning her in a feeling of comfort and safety and _home_. She's wearing that scent now. It's his. And it's all over her. And his lips on her cheek were soft and inviting, his face so close to hers. She's a little dazed when he looks at her again, and this time instead of protesting, she gives the tiniest of nods. Because there's something here that she needs just a little more of. She's helpless to resist.

Ben shudders almost imperceptibly, his dark eyes soft and nervous as he pulls her to him again. His hand cups her chin, tilting her face up to him. Rey's heart is in her throat again, drumming a frantic escape attempt, and her mouth parts as she exhales a shaky breath. He brings his head to hers, dark gaze darting from her eyes to her lips and then hesitates, just a millimeter away. His breath ghosts over her mouth. She surprises them both by closing the gap, meeting him in what is arguably the most awkward kiss in the history of kisses.

Fuck it's so _weird_. And sexless. And horrible. Weird having his mouth on her mouth. But the awkwardness is all mixed up in something else too, like his scent, which seems to be as much inside him as it is on his skin, and she gets a little of it when his lips part just a little. There's this _slide_ , and suddenly she can taste him — and her mind explodes. Logic and higher function shut down, and there's nothing in the world except chasing more of that flavor. No one else exists. She's suddenly got her arms around his neck, kissing him like he's water in the desert. He's right there with her, pulled as helplessly into it as she is, crushing her tight to him in what feels like desperation. The taste of him is lightning in her blood.

 _Alpha_ , she thinks in blind panic. And as if he can sense it somehow, his grip tightens more. He's strong. His body could hem her in, could keep her down as he does the filthiest things to her, could cover her as he plunders the deepest places inside her body. And she wants that, she realizes with helpless fear. Her body demands it. Something inside her that she doesn't recognize cries out for him. _Alpha, love me. Alpha, keep me. Please, alpha._

She breaks off abruptly before fucking _tears_ can start, both aroused and confused and desperately sad at the same time. Because that kiss wasn't real. Because Ben isn't her alpha. Because he won't keep her. That isn't this arrangement. And she should not be having that reaction to him.

"Wow, what a kiss!" Poe shouts, and people are cheering them and toasting their glasses.

But she's staring at Ben, and Ben is staring at her. And while he looks as stunned as she feels, there's something more in his dark eyes.

Something hungry.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Potential trigger warning? Wild animal encounter. (Everything turns out fine.)
> 
> Also, this chapter turned out longer than the others, so sorry about that! I'm really tryna be consistent with this fic, but this one went a tad over.

Rey is completely disoriented by the Alaskan summer.

The party seems to go on and on forever. The sky turns a lovely evening gold, and still it stretches on and on, like the minutes have slowed to hours and they've been suspended in this never-ending moment. When the guests finally disperse, someone yawns and remarks how late it is. Rey checks her phone for the time and practically falls over to discover it's 10:30pm, despite the brilliant lazy late day glow of the sun on a perfectly illuminated world.

She's befuddled by the daylight, and exhausted to the bone by the party. The veritable soup of demi-human scent hasn't helped either. Her head is swimming with too much information about these people and their designations. It's an immense relief when the last guest leaves and there's only the scents of Ben and his family left.

Ben, who she really doesn't want to think too much about.

"Let's get you two to bed," Padme says with a little grin, looping her arm through Rey's elbow once more. "With the time difference from New York, I bet you're beat."

"I am," Rey tells her honestly.

Leia and Padme lead them upstairs and show them to a beautiful big room. The far side of the room is composed entirely of windows and a set of french doors, overlooking a sprawling wooden deck and the sparkling sea beyond. The room itself is decorated with a sort of mix between rustic cabin and luxurious modernity. The bed is _enormous_ , bigger than a king, Rey thinks. There's a wardrobe and chest of drawers, an attached bathroom where she can glimpse a lovely big clawfoot tub she already knows she wants to try. This place has good energy. Rey likes it. She wants to crawl into that bed, bury her face in the pillows, and try to put this whole messy day behind her.

"So here we are, this is your bedroom," Leia announces unnecessarily, but she sounds proud, like she wants Rey to approve.

"It's amazing." Rey gives her a reassuring smile. She pokes her head into the bathroom for a better look. There's a fancy glass shower with half a dozen shower heads, and a tall structure that says it's a _towel warmer_.

She chokes back a laugh. Rey makes good money in her position, but she's always reluctant to spend it on things. She hoards it like a nervous dragon. Maybe she could afford something like a _towel warmer_ , but she's never checked into it, didn't even know they existed, and right now has the distinct impression that she's stepped into another world. She steps away from the bathroom and its ludicrous trappings and wanders over to the windows.

"That view," she hums with a note of happiness.

"And the bed!" Padme points out eagerly. "Beautiful, right?"

"So beautiful," Rey agrees.

Ben had stopped in the hallways to exchange a few words with his father, but he comes into the room now. He doesn't really even glance around, just sets their suitcases down and starts unloading his own into the chest of drawers. Watching him do this, it hits Rey like a thunderclap that they're meant to stay in this room _together_. In a house filled with other rooms.

They're going to stay here.

In the same room.

With one bed.

She glances at Leia, clearing her throat. "Are you sure you're...are you sure it's okay that we…" she stumbles over the words like she doesn't know how to spit them out. Because she doesn't.

Leia spares her with a laugh. "My dear, we're not under any illusions about the nature of your relationship. We know you already sleep together. Mom and I were both young and unmated once too. We remember how it was."

Before Rey can figure out how she should respond to this, a sudden deep, low bark boomed through the room, making her jump. This was her only warning ahead of a huge brown-and-white shape barreling into the room, almost knocking Rey to the ground when it jumps up on her. She barely manages to keep her footing, staggering under the weight of the most enormous dog she's ever seen.

"Chewie!" Leia cries in horror. She seizes the dog's collar and hauls him off Rey. The mortification is unnecessary, though. Rey is _delighted_. She follows the big dog down, kneeling in front of him and scrubbing her fingers behind his fluffy ears.

"Hello, handsome boy," she croons, receiving a big wet lick to the face. "Where did you come from?"

"That's Chewie," Ben says with exasperation. "My dad's dog. He must've just let him out. We keep him put away while guests are because he has no chill. As you see."

Chewie vibrates with excited energy as Rey showers her affection on him. She loves dogs. Always has. But this might be the best dog she's ever seen. Huge enough to hug, fluffy enough to bury her face in.

"I love him," she decides immediately.

"Well he likes you to," Padme says with unveiled approval. "That's very good. It means he'll protect you from the bears."

Rey's fingers freeze, her gaze darting between dog and woman. She stands slowly. "Bears?"

"She's teasing you — mostly," Leia laughs. She moves over to the wardrobe and opens the cupboards. "By the way, there are extra towels and linens in here if you need them. Extra blankets if you get cold."

Padme joins her, rummaging around until she pulls out a particularly beautiful old quilt, made with rainbow geometric patterns. She puts it in Rey's hands. It's soft and heavy and smells like laundry detergent and antique wood. Very cozy and homey.

"Don't use the others if you get cold. Use this one. It has special powers," Padme says, patting it.

"What kind of powers?" Rey smooths her hand over the lovely design.

"I call it the Baby Maker," Padme laughs. "It gave me twins, and gave Leia the most beautiful son in the world."

"I'm going to tell Luke you said that," Leia says with a wicked grin. "Whoops, Rey, here you go."

She bends and picks up the quilt from where Rey had dropped it in a flash of horror, as if it had suddenly turned to living flames in her hands. Leia gives it back to her. She does _not_ want an accursed object like that anywhere near her.

"Okay," she says nervously, handing it over to Ben instead. "We'll just be super careful with that one."

Ben carelessly tosses it at the bed. Rey makes a motion to protest but doesn't have time to tell him before it lands. Her skin crawls with revulsion. As if her haywire biology isn't enough, as if that stupid kiss is not seared into her brain and her gland like some kind of brand, now they want to add Alaskan magic fertility blankets on top of it all. She wants to scream.

"Well, we're going to turn in," Leia is busy telling them. She takes her mother's arm to lead her away. "Goodnight, you two. See you in the morning."

"Goodnight," says Rey politely.

"Night, Mom," says Ben. "Grams."

"Goodnight, Benny." Padme gives them a wink. "We're at the other end of the house. Just in case you were worried. We can't hear a thing way over there."

Ben shoos them and the dog out and shuts the door firmly behind them.

They're finally alone for the first time since the plane. And a lot has happened today. Particularly one big thing that Rey really didn't want to think about, much less _talk_ about. The silence that falls over the room scares her, like he might want to bring it up. So she makes herself ostensibly busy instead. She darts over to the bed and yanks off the voodoo blanket, tossing it on the ground. She also pulls off several dozen pillows from the mountain of them piled at the head of the bed. There's her suitcase to unpack, her phone charger to plug in, and her toiletries to re-organize in their carrying case.

Ben seems as eager to ignore her as she is to ignore him. He gets his things in silence and heads into the bathroom.

The silence is thick and heavy and Rey doesn't know what she'll find if she cuts it open. So she doesn't. Not at first. Not until she has to.

Rey fidgets. She tries to check email, but her cell reception is terrible and she hasn't yet asked for the wifi password. She finds her own pajamas and sits on the bed until Ben is done, piling her hair up into a messy top bun in the meanwhile because she can't stand hair on her neck while she sleeps. Her gland itches. She runs her fingers gently over the spot and tries not to wonder if Ben had noticed this morning how thoroughly she'd washed his scent off last night.

He comes out of the bathroom in a trail of scent, bergamot and cedarwood — and the faintest hint of minty toothpaste. His loose pajama pants ride low on his hips and he's in this black cotton tee that looks soft and does something to her, the way it clings to his broad chest but hangs comfortably, casually loose otherwise. The absurd desire to see beneath the shirt flits through her, wondering if his muscles were sharply defined or merely suggested. She flees to the bathroom to banish this curiosity.

Ben glances at her as she passes him, and she catches a surprised double-take in his expression.

"What?" she demands, finally breaking the silence as she lingers in the bathroom door.

"I've never seen you with your hair up. Ever. In three years." His eyes map the placement of her scent glands, and she's quickly aware of the heat rising in her face.

She turns and shuts the bathroom door to hide from him. It's true. She never puts her hair up. Because of him, because having an alpha as an assistant is a constant low level threat, but also because of everyone else. Because it lets everyone see what she is. They don't need the visual reminder. They need to forget. Even that time in the hotel when Ben's room flooded and he had to come to hers, and they got a roll-away bed he pushed into the furthest corner of the room he could manage, she'd worn a hoodie to bed with the hood up and drawstrings pulled tight, instincts telling her to protect herself from the predator in the room.

Those instincts are quiet now. They were when she packed too. She washes her face and brushes her teeth. She changes into her pajamas and immediately regrets her choice. Rey runs hot at night. She sweats. She always has. She vaguely assumed she and Ben would be in some hotel, or at the very least in separate rooms, and she was too lulled by the scenting incident to think of contingency plans. That scent is around her now, strong in the bathroom. She still isn't used to how good it is. Or how good he tasted. The flavor of that kiss still lingers on her tongue. She kind of hates that he's stopped taking his expensive, extra-strength blockers. It was easier when she could pretend he wasn't something she wanted to bury her face into, or run her tongue all over.

 _Fucking_ biology.

If Ben is surprised he's never seen her neck, he's going to be shocked at what he's about to see now.

She grimaces again at her PJ's. The shorts are very small. Barely shorts at all. And she cuts the sleeves off this old Galaxy Wars t-shirt forever ago in an effort to make a sleep cami. It swoops too low in the front, exposing the swells of the tops of her breasts, because it turns out Rey isn't very good at repurposing old shirts into sleep camisoles. It's never been a big deal until right now, when her assistant is about to get an eyeful.

If she'd still been under the delusion that Alaskan summers were cold, she'd have brought her hoodie and sweat pants. She'd boil alive sleeping in them, but at least she'd be all covered up.

Not much to do now.

"Hey, Ben?" she calls through the door, trying to make her voice sound authoritative, and failing miserably. "Don't look when I come out, okay?"

"Kay," his deep voice calls back distractedly.

"Close your eyes."

"Mm-hm."

"Are they closed?"

"I'm not looking."

"That's not exactly an answer," she grouches.

"Rey," he sounds exasperated again. "It's fine."

"Okay...I'm...emerging," she says awkwardly, and flushes hot because trying not to say _coming_ somehow made it so much worse.

Ben laughs. "Like a moth from a cocoon."

Rey ignores him and opens the door, darting to the bed as quickly as she can. Ben is at the dresser again. She dives under the covers and buries herself up to the neck in blankets, safe from view.

"Did you look?"

"Yep."

"Bastard."

He chuckles and straightens, glancing over his shoulder at her. "You look great. Nothing to be embarrassed about."

 _Not as nice as Zorri_ , some horribly petty part of her chimes in, and Rey quickly stifles it.

Ben strides over to the other side of the bed and starts to get in.

"What are you doing?" Rey cries, shimmying so far to the edge one leg falls out.

He pauses, frowning. "Going to bed?"

"In here? No you're not!"

Ben looks around the room. "Where else do you propose? Got a roll-away stashed somewhere?"

"No. I — I thought —" she glances at the wardrobe. "There's a bunch of blankets in there. You could make a bed on..."

"On the floor?" he arches a brow. "No thanks. I don't want to wake up sore tomorrow."

"It wouldn't be that bad!"

"Then you sleep on the floor. I'm at home. I might not be in my bedroom, but I'm at home. I'm sleeping in a bed."

"Ben," she protests, anger and discomfort rising in her in quick succession. "We can't sleep together."

"We're not _sleeping together_. I'm sleeping over here, and you're sleeping over there. This bed is big enough that we can have a huge neutral zone with no touching."

He gets in without further argument. The mattress must be good because she doesn't even feel it dip when his weight settles in. He's right, the bed is ridiculous, they're no where near touching. But they're under the same covers and Rey's heart is beating so fast, and not even his scent can cool her frazzled nerves. She _could_ sleep on the floor. She's done it before, during the worst of her heats.

But the idea of gathering all those blankets and making a _nest_ in front of this alpha her whole body was weeping for just a couple hours ago — no. The floor is not an option. She rolls over onto her side, facing away from him. The silence blooms again, heavy and awkward. Rey stares out the windows at the midnight sun just skimming along the horizon. This is too weird. The bed situation, and the fact that it doesn't feel at all like night.

"So you haven't been home in a while," she says after a minute, needing to escape the silence more than needing to pretend he doesn't exist.

"You know, I haven't had a lot of vacation time in the last three years." The usual bite is gone from his tone, but she can hear the amused reproach anyway.

She doesn't rise to take the bait. They won't argue right now. "I thought you came to visit them twice a year?"

"That's rut leave, Rey. I knew you didn't want to hear about it, so I never called it that."

"Oh." She swallows. "So you didn't come here?"

"I don't spend my ruts with my parents, no."

"Right." She can feel her face getting warm, and it's silly. She knows it's silly. He's an alpha, of course he has ruts. But his lies have mercifully fueled her ignorance so she didn't have to picture her big, hot assistant absolutely wrecked by his body's insatiable need to—

 _STOP,_ she commands herself, putting down her suddenly intrigued omega. That isn't a safe thing to think about, not ordinarily, and not now when that same alpha is in the same bed.

"You get them twice a year?" She doesn't know why she keeps pursuing this topic. She really should move on. "Even on extra strength?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry."

There's a pause. A slight rustle in the blanket. She peeks over her shoulder and he's giving her a wary look. "Why are you sorry?"

"That must be miserable to go through every six months." She doesn't know how his ruts are, but she's seen them, and it can't be a pleasant thing to endure. A thought occurs to her suddenly, and something sours in her gut. She grimaces. "Unless you have...help — I mean, unless you're not alone, in which case I'm sorry I've asked you to be on extra strength so you only get two a year instead of—"

She's talking quickly when he cuts her off.

"It's okay. Really. It's better only having two."

Her fingers worry the edge of the blanket, and she looks up at the sun glow shining on the ceiling, words stuck in her throat. She doesn't know what else to say. It isn't pleasant to talk about this, but she can't seem to let the subject drop.

"I do, by the way," he says softly after a minute. "Spend them alone. There's — no one."

She wants to make some sarcastic quip about _Anne_ the omega barista who writes her number on his coffee, or any other of the many omegas who are always throwing themselves at him, leaving their numbers or their scents on his things. But she doesn't, because the way he says this reassures her. It shouldn't. She has no reason to feel relieved. But she does. Maybe she's at least glad that this ill-advised sham engagement isn't robbing some other omega of her alpha.

 _My alpha_ , her inner voice corrects, and she bites her tongue so hard it hurts.

"What about you?" he asks. "How often do you...?"

"Once." She doesn't want him to say the word aloud.

"Once a year?" he sounds shocked, and turns his head towards her.

She rolls onto her back. "They're really strong suppressants."

"No wonder you never take leave. Is that healthy? Is it good for you to do that to yourself?"

All at once, Rey discovers her limit for this conversation. She rolls over onto her stomach and gives an exaggerated sigh. "Ugh, how do people here _sleep?_ It's way too bright."

Ben's silent for a minute, and then he shifts. She hears some click, and he must have triggered some mechanism because huge, thick curtains slide across the windows and plunge the room into absolute darkness. Night at last.

"Thank you," she mumbles.

"You're welcome."

* * *

Rey sleeps deeper than she has in a long time. She has no concept of night time or morning in the nebulous dark of the curtained room. She wakes once, sweating and panicked that they've somehow slept through the day. She's really hot and uncomfortable. There's hot air in her face and a hot weight wrapped around her. She can't see anything in the dark, but a quick assessment reveals, with breath-snatching alarm, that she's completely tangled around Ben. Her legs are wrapped through his, his arms clutching her tight to him, her whole body flush against his. Ben's lips are inches from her forehead. She can feel his breath on her brow. He's sweaty too, and his scent is so thick and heady, it's coursing through her like a drug. Desire pulses through her core, and she's really wet between her legs.

 _Alpha_ , her omega says with wonton contentedness, but Rey is _not_ content. She's horrified.

She shoves him hard, disentangling herself from him in a spasm of limbs. Surprisingly, he doesn't wake. He grumbles some soft sigh and rolls over, away from her. She feels her way back to her side of the bed, discovering with chagrin that she was the one who crossed the neutral zone and came to _his_ side.

Rey kicks off the covers and lays there, sweaty, willing her heart to calm down. Willing her fiery needs to cool. She checks her phone. It's only 4am. The bright light of the screen cuts through the darkness with welcome intrusion.

Ben's breathing is rhythmic and calm. His scent permeates the room, swirls through her head, makes her dizzy. It's comforting too though. With a little distance, she can appreciate it a little better. She hasn't heard the sound of another person breathing in the night for...well, she can't remember. His deep, steady breaths and the heaviness of his scent soothe her, drawing a blanket over her so inexplicably comforting, it feels weighted. It lulls her into a sense that _all is well. All is right._

 _Alpha is here_.

Despite her chagrin, she falls back to sleep with that comforting thought tugging at her mind.

She's woken again the second time rather more violently. The sharp, startling sound of a ringtone shatters the stillness, jerking her upright in the bed. She'd once again found her way to his side, spooning him like he's her security blanket. Not now, though. Now she's sitting up straight, groping blindly for the sound.

"Ben," she mumbles reflexively, "answer the phone."

"We're not at the office," he says, his voice muffled by the pillow.

"Ben," she hisses, crawling back to her side, searching. "Answer it."

"No."

Rey scrambles to shut off the infernal sound — the default ringtone her phone came with, because she's never been bothered to change it. She usually keeps it on vibrate anyway, and right now she can't remember exactly why she turned it off. She can't really think at all.

She clambers head-first off the bed with catlike maneuvering, clawing after her phone when her swiping knocks it to the floor. "Shit, where is it?"

"It was in your purse, side-pocket," mumbles Ben sleepily, clicking whatever mysterious button makes the curtains open just enough to give her some light.

Finally she grabs it and squints against the assaulting brightness of the screen.

_Monica Mothma_

She answers immediately. "Hello. Hello? Monica?"

"Ms. Joh—n," the glitchy voice on the other end rattles, the connection severing most of the word.

"Monica, I'm here." Rey's voice tilts louder, desperate to reach this VIP of all VIP authors. She's one of Luke's oldest friends, former senator and Secretary of State, a good friend of Leia too, actually. They served together. She's an Omega, one of the few in public service, and her previous books have sold like lightning. They have previously been printed by Degobah's main imprint, but this newest book is a YA Novel, specifically addressing her designation and its impact on opportunity, couched in the framework of a young omega character struggling to find her place in the world. It's already generating a ton of buzz. She is a whale of a client, and one of Degobah's most important authors.

All of this makes Rey frantic as she screeches into the phone trying to get Monica to hear her, until Ben finally snaps and lifts his head.

"Rey! You're going to wake the whole house!"

She immediately lowers her voice to a whisper, "Monica, I'm sorry, I have horrible service. Just give me one second."

She throws on a plaid robe she finds hanging behind the door and slips down the hallway and down to the kitchen, sliding her feet into a pair of boots. She doesn't even care whose they are.

"And now Oprah's people have called," Monica is saying when Rey finally stumbles outside and manages to get a single bar more. It's enough for a clearer voice. "And I'm just feeling a lot of pressure. I don't want to do it."

"Monica, I'm so sorry you feel this much pressure," Rey says soothingly. "I thought you'd be comfortable being interviewed, with all your PR experience."

"I have avoided interviews about my designation my whole life, Ms. Johnson," Monica is saying anxiously. "My entire political career, if reporters or opponents asked me to talk about my designation, I shut them down. I can't face a whole interview specifically about that now. And it will be about that. Of course it will. The whole book is about that."

"I understand. I actually really do. I know how it is to have to shut out that part of yourself. I get your apprehension."

There's a bark and Chewie bursts through the door behind her and out into the yard, prancing around her happily. She finds a stick and throws it to send him running.

"So if you get it you'll cancel the interview, right?" Monica is asking. "There's a reason I haven't done publicity for my last two books."

"Of course we can cancel if that's what you really want—" Chewie is back in a flash, shaggy fur glistening with morning dew. He barks. "Sorry, sorry there's this dog — of course we can cancel, Monica—"

"That's what I want."

"And I want you to be happy. But let me ask you this—" she hurls the stick again. "Why did you write this book?"

"You asked me this last time."

"I know. I'm asking you again. Why did you write this book?"

There's a sigh. "I wrote this book for all the young omega girls and omega boys out there who aspire—"

While she goes on her noble speech about all the inspiring reasons she wrote the book, which Rey has already heard before, Rey notices that Chewie has not come back this time. She can't even hear him. She whirls and searches, stumbling across the yard with the obligatory "mm-hmm" sounds to encourage the author to keep going while she frantically looks around.

Suddenly she sees him a little past the tree line, dappled in shadows, hackles raised, and a deep growl in the back of his throat.

"Right," Rey tells Monica faintly as her heart climbs to her throat. "We all need your story. All of us kids who grew up being told our destiny was a—"

Her breath fails as her gaze travels from the dog into the woods ahead and she sees it, shrouded in shadow but nonetheless distinct. A fucking _huge_ bear.

Monica is saying something else, but Rey only hears the rushing static of panic in her veins.

"Chewie," she hisses, lowering the phone from her mouth. "Chewie get back here. Leave it alone."

The dog doesn't budge, snarling, head low. The bear is whuffling and making low growling sounds of its own, swinging its head back and forth.

"Tell you what," Rey says into the phone, her voice gone small and breathless. "Let me send you my thoughts in an email. If you still feel this way tomorrow, I'll cancel. Okay?"

Monica sounds reluctant, but it's the best Rey can do right now.

"I know, I'm sorry. I promise we'll talk more. Right now I — I have — an emergency—"

The bear stands up on its hind legs and roars an earth-shattering roar. Rey screams and shoots forward, running as fast as she can towards the dog before it gets mauled or eaten. She's never sprinted so fast in her life, tearing across the lawn in boots that are too big, a robe flapping open on shorts that are too small, straight towards a giant predator who could probably eat her in a couple gulps.

She throws her phone directly into the bear's face just as she reaches Chewie. It smacks off its forehead, distracting it momentarily. She grabs the dog's collar and bodily hauls him backwards and away, the two of them running towards the house. But Chewie, the bastard, stops halfway and turns again, barking full, terrifying barks.

Rey looks backwards to see the bear had tried to pursue, but is once again held off by the dog's barking. It roars and snarls and makes all kinds of nasty noises, but it won't advance. It stomps, swings its head, stands and bellows, but it doesn't not step closer to the dog.

Before Rey can wrap her head around what in the fuck is happening, Han comes striding past her with a gun, firing into the air.

"Get out of here, bear," he shouts. "Go."

The bear roars again and then backs away. Chewie walks forwards on stiff legs, herding it back towards the trees. Han follows them. When they're about the spot the bear was when Chewie found him, Han fires another round into the air. The bear turns and sprints.

By the time the bear has disappeared completely, Rey is pretty sure she's aged a sixty years from stress alone.

She flops back into the grass and stares up at the bright blue sky while trying to get her heart out of her throat. Fucking Alaska.

Han comes over to her, a crooked grin on his face. He offers her a hand and helps her up when she accepts it.

"You okay, kid?" he asks.

"I think so," she says shakily. She doesn't know if she's about to burst out laughing to dissolve into tears. She feels crazy. "That was so scary."

"Don't worry about that, we get them every once in a while. I'll let Wildlife Services know and they'll come relocate him somewhere safer, without so many people around."

Chewie lopes up beside Han and gives his hand a lick. Han pats his head.

"It was about to eat Chewie," Rey explains feebly.

Han laughs. "Nah, not ole Chew here. He's tougher than that. Bears are scared of dogs, did you know that? Chewie's saved my life from a grizzly plenty of times."

"You mean I…?" Rey falters.

"Rushed straight at an Alaskan Grizzly and threw your phone at it's throat to save my dog even though he didn't need saving? Yeah, pretty much." Han grins this lopsided grin that reminds her of Ben, and puts his hands on his hips. "But as far as I'm concerned, that's the most reckless alpha shit I've ever seen, and you've won some points in my book."

Rey looks towards the tree line again. "Do you think my phone is gone forever?"

"You mean this?" Han pulls the thing out of his pocket. It's cracked almost clean in half. "Yep."

"Great," she sighs.

The door to the house opens and Leia and Padme appear on the porch. Do they go everywhere together?

"Han, what's going on?" Leia demands. "We heard shots fired."

Ben is out the door too, striding right between his mother and grandmother and covering the distance over the lawn in a few strides, his face wreathed in concern. He's still wearing his pajamas.

"Nothing to worry about," Han calls back to the women. "Rey just met the locals."

"What happened?" Ben demands.

"Relax, she's fine," Han says. "Your omega's tough to scare, Ben. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go reassure your mother."

Rey watches him go with a wistful feeling she doesn't understand. She's still rattled and frightened by what happened, but his approval is strangely...comforting. She's always despised guns and has never understood Americans' obsession with these particular instruments of death, but right now, she's sorry to see Han and his gun go.

"What happened?" Ben asks her again, his voice quieter this time.

"Your grandmother was right. There was a bear," she starts to explain. His face immediately blanches and he seizes her by the shoulders, turning her this way and that as he inspects her for injuries.

"I'm fine," she insists and he looks her over. "Chewie, he was barking, and then the bear got up on its hind legs and I thought — I thought it was going to kill Chewie, so I ran to get him and I threw my phone and pulled Chewie away and then your dad came with the gun and—" she exhausts herself, producing the broken phone with a sad shrug. "Anyway, I don't know what I'm going to do because Mothma is freaking out and I really need to be able to communicate with her."

Ben is apparently satisfied that she has suffered no injuries. He still looks shaken, though, and Rey doesn't know why because it wasn't him who just had a terrible wild animal encounter. "You almost got killed by a grizzly and you're worried about work?"

"It's really important."

He passes a hand over his face. "Okay, we'll just go into town and order you a new one. We can pick it up tomorrow."

"Oh." She pauses. "Really?"

"Really." He looks her over once more, and Rey realizes how chilled she is now that the adrenaline has worn off. She's still in her tiny pajamas and the robe and borrowed boots, and she feels a little exposed under Ben's scrutiny.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asks softly.

She shivers. "It was so scary."

His hand lifts, hesitates, and then finds her neck, fingers trailing down until he brushes a thumb over her mating gland. The lightest stroke dissolves the lingering traces of fear and Rey's body relaxes. _Safe_ , the touch says. _You're safe._

"Brave omega," Ben murmurs so softly. His eyes have gone suddenly soft. "Fearless and protective."

And like a drug dripping into her veins, the words sink into her mind with heady pleasure. There's this look in his face that should spook her, but with his touch and his words, she can't find it in herself to worry about it. She wonders if he knew how she kept finding him in the night. If he ever woke up and found her there. And if he did, why he chose to let her.

Abruptly he lets his hand drop away again, shoving them into the pockets of his pajama pants. "So there's breakfast in there, and then after you eat you need to get dressed. My mom and grandmother want to take you into town for something special."

"I don't want to go," Rey says immediately. Under any other circumstances she'd be thrilled to spent time with two powerful women such as this, but the situation is awkward and familial and Rey doesn't know how to act here.

"I know," Ben says. "But I think you should."

"No. I need to stay here and get connected to the wifi and work."

"It's the weekend, Rey."

As if he hasn't worked several hundred weekends with her. Their roles are completely upended here, and she doesn't _feel_ like his boss right now, so she can't find any authority to explain why it's important that she keep working. It sounds feeble when she tries to protest.

"I know, but—"

"Do it for INS, then. The more my family knows about you, the more convincing it will be when Krennic inevitably interviews them."

She grimaces, running a hand over her forehead and discovering her flyaways, reminding her what a sight she must look right now. Lovely. Anyway, she really can't argue with that. She needs to convince Leia and Padme this is real, so they can convince Krennic, so he'll help her get a green card, so they can divorce and put this whole thing behind them.

Rey sighs. "What do they want to do?"

"Shopping, sightseeing, some kind of surprise." His eyes track her hands through her hair and linger there a moment.

She's never particularly cared what he thought of her appearance beyond seeing her as a professional, but right now, she really hopes he's not put off by how disheveled she's become after a night of surreptitiously snuggling him and then going toe-to-toe with a grizzly.

"I don't do shopping or sightseeing and I really hate surprises."

"You might like this one. You never know."

"Ben, I—" She hesitates. "I don't know how to do this."

"Pretend? I thought you said yesterday you were a great actor." His lips twist in a little smile. "I think you're doing okay so far."

"No, I meant…this family thing. I don't do family." Her voice gets small, because if Rey doesn't talk about being an omega, there's an even deeper secret she _never_ talks about, and she isn't sure she wants Ben to know, but she needs him to understand why she's reluctant to go out with his mother and grandmother today.

He gives her a quizzical look. "What does that mean?"

She sighs, chickening out. "Never mind, forget it."

"Oh. Okay…?"

"Breakfast, then go?"

"Breakfast, get changed, and then go." His slow smile is returning. "Are they still watching us?"

A quick glance over his shoulder and Rey can see Leia and Padme and Han chatting but very much clearly still watching them. She nods.

"I think we should hug, then," he says. "A hug after a scary bear encounter seems right."

"I don't want to hug you," Rey says miserably, because she _does_ want to hug him, in fact a hug sounds like the nicest thing in the world right now, but every time she gets close to him physically she loses her grasp on the truth and starts slipping towards something a lot scarier than a bear.

"Come on," he coaxes, his hand finding hers as he steps closer. "I think it'd be a good idea."

"Ben," she complains half-heartedly, but he's already there, winding his arms around her, holding her tight to his chest.

His scent envelopes her along with his huge body, and his t-shirt is soft and his chest is hard and Rey is pretty sure she's never felt this safe in her whole life. Bear be damned, nothing can hurt her here. She melts into it, closing her eyes while a shiver runs down her spine. _Alpha_ , her omega purrs happily. Her heart throbs with a peculiar ache and she finally lifts her arms to twine around his massive middle, holding onto him so tight lest he try to escape.

Maybe Ben understands because he doesn't let her go for a long time. His cheek slides against her hair and she can hear his soft inhale, can feel the breath expanding in his lungs.

"Hey, you two gonna come eat breakfast or what?" Han shouts at them.

They part reluctantly. Rey's face is warm. Ben takes her hand and leads her back to the house, and she pretends that it isn't just because of their charade. If she'd known it was so nice, hugging him, she would have done it a long time ago.

No, no she wouldn't have. Because what excuse does a boss have to hug her assistant? Maybe if she'd managed to be his friend first, and they hung out casually. But then, Rey didn't really do friends. She didn't hang out. There is no scenario outside of this where she sees herself getting a hug from him again. Or snuggling up to his warm, comforting body in the night.

She eats pancakes and bacon and eggs with the family, listening to Han tell his version of the bear story, listening to Leia's praise of Rey's reckless bravery, listening to Padme talk about how her late husband got into trouble with a bear once and had to be rescued by his brother, Ben. And Rey learns who her Ben is named after.

After breakfast they go back upstairs. Ben hangs out on the porch while she showers and changes. She reaches reflexively for her scent neutralizing products, but decides not to take them. Only the suppressant.

She puts her hair up again in a ponytail. It feels good, and there's no one here to be an alpha for, and the way Ben's eyes seem to linger on her glands makes her feel kind of powerful in a different way from what she's used to.

Rey finally comes out of the bathroom to see Ben silhouetted against the dramatic Alaskan landscape, his back to her as he stands at the edge of the porch. Seeing him in this setting, with his family, stripped of all the trappings of the office, Rey sort of gets the feeling she's meeting him anew for the first time. Like she's never actually _seen_ him before.

It's a complicated experience.

He turns before she can speak, chest expanding in a deep inhale. His eyes widen a little. "Your scent."

"Yeah," she says quickly, nervously. "Um, so I'm going down to meet up with your mother. She said we can take the truck, we don't have to go by boat. I'm really glad about that. I'll uh...see you later, I guess."

He takes a step towards her, but she turns and dashes out of the room. Her omega is screaming at her to stay, to see what he was going to say or do, but she can't. She flees to go find Leia.


	6. Chapter 6

It has been a _day_.

Rey is hungry and worn out. Leia and Padme have dragged her all over Theed, showing her everything there is to see. Admittedly, it's not that much. Not like trying to take in New York in a single morning. They show her the indigenous heritage sites and the leftover remnants of the original Russian settlers. They show her the fishing wharf where Han's commercial fishing enterprise runs smoothly, and the tiny little schoolhouse where Ben attended kindergarten through eighth grade, and the tiny little high school where he finished out his education. They take her shopping at a few of the apparel shops around — no tacky souvenir stuff, but real clothes, nice clothes, and Rey learns that Padme is passionate about fashion.

"My mother was a seamstress," she explains. "She taught me everything she knew and hoped one day I'd become a dressmaker for fancy Hollywood ladies in California. I chose a life of politics instead, but I made sure to hire talented but unknown omega designers to dress me, to give them a high-profile platform to work with. Every single one went on to have wonderful careers."

"Mother was always pushing the envelope of fashion at the time," Leia laughs. "She was fearless."

"I had to be fearless," Padme sniffs. "Rey gets it."

Rey isn't sure she does. She _pretends_ to be fearless, but living life the way she has, it's pretty evident she's had a lot of fear. Fear of being discovered as the omega she really is. Fear no one will take her seriously. She's been hiding in plain sight. Padme owns her designation, wears it like a badge of honor. Rey is certain this tough old woman wouldn't be caught dead trying to conceal who she is.

Today is the first time, maybe ever, that Rey really feels free to be in her own skin without the world watching to see how that works. She lets herself _be_ an omega. She isn't trying to prove anything to anyone, not trying to compete or put on a facade, not trying to fight anyone for dominance. She enjoys herself, enjoys the day and the company. Her scent is bright and livelier than she's noticed in a long, long time, even if her expensive meds keep it more muted than the locals. Still, even Leia notices it and remarks to her mother that it's a shame Ben is always masking her with his own scent when hers is so fresh and lovely. Padme snickers and tells Leia not to get used to it, they'll both smell a little like each other after the Big Bite. Rey's in too good a mood to let this comment get to her.

The day is exhausting, but _fun_. Not trying to be an alpha is liberating. Which is strange, considering she's living a whole different lie right now instead.

By the time afternoon rolls around, Rey's stomach is growling loudly and the women decide it's time for the surprise.

"There will be food at the surprise," Padme says, patting her consolingly.

The _surprise_ , it turns out, is Theed's one and only strip club. An inconspicuous place labeled _The Fates_. Rey is initially disappointed, because she's pretty sure this means the food will be terrible. And as long as she's owning her designation today, she might as well enjoy in the best kind of food, the kind that makes her scent spike big time. This place seems unlikely to have anything like that.

She's also leery because it's three in the afternoon, which feels like a weird time to go to a strip club. Her reluctance is further compounded when Rose and Zorri show up with a few other women in tow, including the giant blond alpha from the party.

"Hi Rey!" Rose says eagerly. Her warmth is infectious. "I hope you don't mind, Leia invited us!"

"It's great to see you again," Rey says, because she really is glad to see Rose.

Padme ushers them all inside and they cluster around a couple of tables. Leia orders beers and burgers for everyone. Rey snacks on fries before they arrive, and honestly, they're not too bad. She likes whatever flavor they've dusted over the top.

"You're in for a real treat," Padme giggles conspiratorially to Rey, elbowing her. "This is one of Theed's greatest treasures."

A strip club? Rey's pretty sure they have better treasures than this, but she smiles and nods politely anyway.

The lights dim as Duran Duran comes thumping over the speakers. Seems like an odd choice for a strip tease. The first bars of _Hungry Like The Wolf_ blare and Rey almost falls out of her chair with mortification when _Poe_ , the handsome alpha from the party comes strutting out onto the stage, dressed in a black leather jacket unzipped to reveal his chest, and black leather pants held up by scarlet suspenders. He's immediately gyrating to the beat, popping his hips, presenting himself for full consideration by this mostly-omega crowd. Leia and the big blond woman are the only alphas here.

His modest crowd hoots and whistles excitedly.

Rey blushes red hot and focuses on her burger when it arrives. It's easier to look at than the man making himself one with the music.

"Normally Poe works at Leia's store," Rose says, leaning over to talk above the music. "But he does this on the side. He loves it. Isn't he great?"

Rey has no idea what to judge him against. She's never been to anything like this. Poe moves with the beat, so at least he's got that going for him, and he exudes alpha confidence in every snap of his hips, every drop and turn and smirk. But even with all that on his side, Rey is in full-on cringe mode the moment he starts to mess with that jacket, teasing like he's going to take it off. He's throwing these charming dimpled grins and meaningful winks at his riled audience.

The burger is very good. Rey takes solace in that, at least.

The others are _loving_ the show, egging him on, cheering wildly when the jacket comes off and his whole gleaming bronze chest comes into view. Looks like he's been oiled up. Rey winces.

"Work it, Poe!" Rose shouts.

Zorri laughs. "Here, Poe. The bride is over here!"

Rey flushes with sudden mortification as Poe, now having yanked off the legs of his pants so he's only wearing a thong that really leaves nothing to the imagination, thrusts his way over to them while Le Bon promises he's on the hunt.

Padme tucks some bills into the strap of this thong and gives his naked haunch a smack. "Get your lady, Poe!"

He leans sensually over the table and takes Rey's hand, much to her horror. He tugs her up and out of the crowd.

"No, no, really, it's okay," she tries to protest in nervous horror. "Remember how I said I wasn't a fish person? I'm not really into any forms of dance either. Or stages. Or spectacles."

He flashes her a toothy grin and nods. "Relax, omega. I've got you."

Someone helpfully puts a chair on the stage, and he guides her into it. Rey would really like to shrivel up and die now. She looks around for a rescue, only to find a sea of eager faces cheering her on.

"Show her what she's giving up!" someone laughs.

Poe's sandalwood scent is heady and heavy around her, pungent and ripe. _Sex,_ it promises. _Alpha_ , it promises. It makes her head spin. This isn't the same kind of dizzy as what Ben's scent does to her though. This isn't the kind of soaring, weightless, euphoric feeling of a cannabinoid high. This is like breathing gas fumes for too long.

"Your scent," he whispers as he slinks along behind her. "I can actually get some of it today. No wonder he's been hiding you."

_No,_ her whole body screams. _Wrong alpha._

She chokes back an urge to punch him in the face, or maybe laugh. Yeah. She laughs. It's a desperate sound, caught between hilarity and horror. All her instincts are on high alert. There's a predator stalking around her, and she needs to flee, but this is just a game. There's not real danger here. But it _feels_ like danger, and she doesn't want to be caught by this one. Poe writhes and gyrates around her.

The cheering of the other women makes her want to burst out in giggles again, but the musk of this stranger alpha and the proximity of his groin thrusting near her head now make her want to vomit, and all at once it becomes too much and she buries her face in her hands until its over.

_Burning the ground, I break from the crowd_   
_I'm on the hunt, I'm after you_   
_Scent and a sound, I'm lost and I'm found_   
_And I'm hungry like the wolf_

_Strut on a line, it's discord and rhyme_   
_I howl and I whine, I'm after you_   
_Mouth is alive, all running inside_

Honestly, she has no idea how long it lasts. When it finally ends and he lets her go, the women crowd around her and congratulate her and ask her how it was. She makes the appropriate responses to reassure them that they've not traumatized her for life, and then when they turn their attention to Poe's next dance, she slips out a side door onto a balcony overlooking the wharf to suck deep, cleansing breaths.

Someone follows her out a few seconds later.

"Hey," she says softly.

Rey turns to see the clear eyes of Zorri, a smile on her face. "Hey, how are you holding up?"

"Oh, hi. I'm fine." She squints up into the sunshine. "You know, just getting some air. His scent is kinda strong."

"It is. He only takes the bare minimum by way of blockers so omega scent doesn't throw him into rut. Anyway, you did well. I'm sure this is all really overwhelming." Zorri chuckles a low, husky chuckle. Her voice is deep for a woman, smooth like tranquil water. "Probably isn't the weekend you expected."

"I really didn't know what to expect. But yeah, this is not it at all."

"A bit different from New York?"

"Very."

"I bet you have way better nightlife there. Better options than this."

"Yeah, we do." Rey pauses, then adds. "But to be honest, I can't say that with firsthand experience. I don't do much outside of work. I know that's pretty sad."

Zorri doesn't look at her with pity. She lifts her brow and shrugs. "I imagine your work is intense."

"It is…" Rey pivots the conversation away from herself. "Have you ever been?"

"No. Not really my thing. I'm kind of like a lot of people here. I love it. I don't really want to leave. To visit, sure, but this is where my home is. The Skywalker-Solo clan has always been a more restless bunch. Han's the only one with Theed in his heart. Everyone else has...ambition."

"Ambition."

"Yeah, you know. They've got big dreams. They don't care about staying. The world holds more exciting opportunities. They come back when their adventures are through, but Theed can't hold them forever."

Rey considers this, and then says softly, "Ben is like that, I think."

Zorri smiles a little. "Definitely. He was always so itchy to get out of here. I always teased him that he would never be satisfied with life. That he was looking for something tha wasn't there. He knew from a young age that he wanted to go to New York and work for Luke. I wondered if it would be enough for him. I guess it is."

Is it? He's been at that grindstone for a long time, and he finally wrestled a promotion out of it, but Rey wonders.

"You guys were pretty serious, I take it." Her stomach constricts, but she makes herself touch this topic anyway. Because she wants to know. She _needs_ to know. Maybe it's masochism.

"Well, I mean we dated in high school and a little bit through college, but we were just kids." Zorri glances at her. Her voice is reassuring. Rey doesn't necessarily feel reassured.

It's silent for a minute before she ventures, "Can I ask why it ended?"

Zorri doesn't seem bothered by the question. She sucks in a deep breath. "Everyone around here believes in all that _perfect match_ thing. Like perfect compatibility. Two people destined to be together, you know?"

"Yeah."

"I guess we kind of did too, and in high school we tried to pretend that was us. We thought it was. Not that we ever—" she hurries to clarify, turning, eyes wide, "We never shared a heat or rut together or anything. Our parents wouldn't allow it. That was smart of them because we might have done something permanent. Even in college, the timing was always wrong, so we never did that. But even still, we were convinced we were a match."

Rey's cheeks warm, but she says nothing.

Zorri observes her briefly and then nods. "Turns out we weren't. We knew it when he asked me to come to New York with him. This was like seven years ago. He asked, and I told him I didn't want to leave — ever. And we just kind of looked at each other and knew. We weren't made for each other. Maybe it's all mumbo jumbo. I'm actually with Poe now — sorta."

At Rey's shocked expression, she laughs.

"I know. It's not like we're mates or anything. I don't even know if it will ever get there. It's not like the stars align when we kiss or anything. Actually, we have kind of a weird open relationship with Hux and his alpha girlfriend. We trade sometimes. Gwen is really great at helping with heats. That's probably way more than you wanted to know, but I say it so that you know why me and Ben would never work. He's restless, but traditional. Turns out I'm not. I want to stay here and live my strange, satisfying life. He wants to see the world and make big waves and have his one steady companion. And you know, it's funny, I didn't notice while we were in high school, but Poe smells way better to me than Ben ever did. Isn't that weird?"

Rey doesn't relate to that at _all_. She wrinkles her nose and gives Zorri a look.

She laughs again. "See? And that's why you two are a much better fit."

"So what he does in there doesn't make you jealous?" Rey peeks over her shoulder at the flashing lights inside.

Zorri smirks. "Not as much as you'd think. This always gets him all riled up. We have fun afterwards."

Rey grimaces. "Oh god."

"Welcome to Theed, Rey," Zorri chuckles. "We'd better get back in there before your in-laws start looking for you."

* * *

The ride back to the house is quiet. Padme snoozes in her seat, all worn out from the excitement of the afternoon. Leia softly sings along to the radio. Her scent is peaceful and happy. A happy alpha radiates a kind of calm that can affect everyone in their vicinity, and Rey is no exception. She's quiet and peaceful too. She watches the ocean and the sunlight glittering off the water. Her gland itches, her body feels heavy, and she would really like to go lie in that enormous bed. It's been a good day, but she feels excessively threadbare now that it's over.

When they arrive at the giant house, Leia wakes her mother. Padme immediately wants to rehash the fun of the afternoon, chattering happily the whole walk up to the house. At the porch, though, a cracking sound stops them all dead in their tracks.

**Thud.** _C_ _rack_.

The three of them head to the side of the porch and look off across the lawn where Ben is swinging an axe down into a new log, splitting it clean in half. His red heather t-shirt is soaked in sweat, clinging to his broad frame in a way that makes Rey gapes at the spectacle of her massive assistant doing something so inherently _masculine_. He grabs another and immediately splits that in two as well.

Leia doesn't seem so impressed. "Uh-oh," she sighs.

"Why uh-oh?" Rey manages to tear her eyes away from the scene.

"Chopping logs is what Ben does when he's angry," Padme explains. "We had mountains and mountains of it when he was a teenager."

Leia frowns. "Something must have happened to upset him."

Rey wonders what his coping technique is in the city where there are no logs to chop.

"We'd best leave him alone for a while," Padme urges, herding them back into the house. "He'll talk when he's ready. Or he won't. Let him work through it."

Inside, Han is lounging on the couch watching some kind of boat racing tournament. Padme shuffles off to her room with a reassuring pat to Rey's arm and a grin goodbye. Leia marches straight over to her and turns the TV off.

"Hey," he grouches. "What the hell, Leia?."

Her voice is sharp. "Why is Ben out there hacking up firewood again?"

Han's is not. It sounds lazy and annoyed. "How should I know? Maybe he finally remembered he has a mother and is trying to make sure you have enough for winter."

Rey hangs back, sensing a family argument on the brink of explosion.

"I'm going to go shower," she tells Leia. "I need to get Poe's scent off."

"Of course, dear," Leia says distractedly. She turns again to Han. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything."

Rey silently pads over to the stairs and hovers there, waiting and listening. She shouldn't eavesdrop on this, but like Ben's argument with his father at the party, she's too intrigued to be polite. There are puzzle pieces to him here and she wants to understand.

Leia's voice cracks through the air again. "You did something. If Ben's upset, it almost always come back to you."

Han grunts. "I just had a frank conversation with him about his future. I told him I thought he was wasting his life working for that hippie brother of yours, and that reading books all day is a poor use of his talents."

"What a great idea, Han," Leia snaps back sarcastically. "Did that make him come running to take over your business? Did it?"

"No, of course not. The kid is headstrong, Leia."

"He is my son. My only son. And I only get to see him every few years because he doesn't like to come home. And you know why he doesn't like to come home? Because of _you_. Because you can't approve of anything he chooses to do with his life."

"If he doesn't come home it's because Luke and that girl up there have him working too hard!"

"What is it, Han? Is his job not a real job or is it too hard? You can't seem to make up your mind about that. He says it's because of work, but we both know that's an excuse. Rey is lovely, and I'm sure if he asked her, she'd give him the time off to come see us. He doesn't come because he knows he's going to fight with you every time he does."

Han sounds finally angry. His voice rises. "He doesn't belong out there, Leia, and you know it. He belongs here with us, getting ready to take over your mother's empire and my business."

Leia laughs a cold, incredulous laugh. "He's never going to be a fisherman! Accept it!"

"I want us to retire! I want to leave our businesses in good hands so you and I can enjoy our retirement in peace!"

"If you push him away, you know what you'll retire to? A great big house with me and my mother, for however much longer she's around. We'll be here alone. And our son and his wife will never come visit us because it's too contentious. And one day they'll have our grandbaby, sooner than later if the way she smells is any indication, and we'll never get to be part of that child's life. Because of you. So you're going to fucking _fix this_."

"Fine," Han snarled. "Fine."

A floorboard creaked, so Rey dashed upstairs as quickly and quietly as she could before anyone could find her loitering on the steps.

Long ago, when she was young, Rey used to hide in the bathroom with the shower running. The sound would drown out the other noises and smells of the house. It was a door she could lock, where no one could get her. The water became a comforting sound. A sound she loved. One she still finds comforting. Sometimes in her apartment, she'll turn on the shower and just lie there on the floor outside the tub, sinking into the pink noise, letting it wash away all her stress.

She does that now. Sorta. She turns on the shower and peels off all her clothes, but instead of getting in right away she finds herself sitting on the bathroom floor, losing herself to the sound of the water. She already showered once today so getting clean isn't her priority. Mostly she just wants a place where no one will find her.

She replays the day behind closed eyelids. She doesn't understand what kind of Pandora's Box she opened by trying to defraud her way into a green card. This was just supposed to be about staying in the US and keeping her job. How did she find herself at the top of the world with her goddamn _assistant_ , facing new and uncomfortable things about her designation, about his, about her own role in his life, about family, about every damn thing she's tried to avoid thinking about for years and years? How did this happen? And did she really go toe-to-toe with a _bear_ this morning?

What did Leia mean about _if the way she smells is any indication_? That argument was revelatory in some aspects. She thinks about what Zorri said, about Han being the only one with Theed in his heart. About how it must drive him crazy that his only offspring doesn't share his love of this island or its wild land. But if the pattern has held true, maybe Ben will want to come back here some day, like his grandmother and mother before him. Maybe when he's had his fill of the world, he return to to make his peace with his past. Then again, Luke hasn't done that. He's never mentioned Theed or Alaska once. Not that they've ever really talked about their personal lives. It's always been business between the two of them. In fact, she doesn't even know if he and Mara are together, or just business partners. That would be interesting, both of Padme's children finding their ways into alpha-alpha relationships.

After a while, Rey gets up and hops in the shower quickly, barely rinsing off. She doesn't even wet her hair or use soap. When she gets out she checks the towel warmer and discovers, to her disappointment, that she forgot her towel on the bed this morning. She snags a little hand-towel and pats herself dry as best she can.

No worries. Nobody is around. Ben is out there still chopping wood. She'll just pop out to her bag and grab a clean set of clothes and then disappear into the bathroom again. Easy.

—Except it isn't.

Right as she opens the door and darts forward, she slams directly into a solid wall of a human being.

A very naked human being.

A very naked, very sweaty, very hot alpha human being.

Rey screams, Ben screams, and their collision sends them toppling to the floor. His arms wrap around her reflexively and she lands atop him in a sprawl of limbs and skin and mingling gasps.

"Why are you naked?" she cries.

But there's a low sound in Ben's chest she doesn't recognize. Rey pushes against the ground on either side of him, scrambling to get her naked body away from his naked body as quickly as she can. Or she tries, at least. In the attempt, she catches a glimpse of his face where his shock is quickly transforming into something else. His pupils blow wide as marbles, eyes black and dark as a snarl works over his lips. His arms are still holding her tight her to him.

"Ben," she protests, wriggling in search of escape.

" _Omega_ ," he says, his voice a dark growl. "You smell like someone else."

Dammit, she forgot that the whole point of the shower was to wash the lingering traces of Poe away. Suddenly Ben rolls them over, pinning her down beneath him with arms as thick as tree trunks.

"Another alpha," he menaces.

"Ben," she squirms again, and realizes with mortification and a sharp spike of excitement that something _hard_ is growing between them. Something hard and thick that lays heavy on her belly. "Ben, come back."

"You're _mine_." He bends to her neck, tongue drawing a hot stripe right over her mating gland. A helpless moan falls past Rey's lips before she can catch it, and her arms wrap around his neck of their own accord, clinging to him while he suckles fiercely at her like he's trying to leave a hickey there. He rumbles against her as he does it, deep sounds that reverberate to their two bodies still pressed close. His cock between them throbs, and Rey's rational side is quickly being conquered by something else inside her that wants to know more about this thick weapon pressing into her abdomen.

_Get out get out get out_ her sane self is saying. He could bite. His teeth are right there. One firm bite, and her whole world would be forever changed. She's in danger here, but her inner omega is awake and hungry and she _wants_ him. Wants that thing rocking between their bodies, and wants his teeth in her flesh.

His lips release her, nose buried to the sensitive patch. He breathes deeply. "That's better," he decides, and his hips lever into her, grinding his length against her with a needy sound.

"Ben," she squeaks with the last of her clarity.

He snaps out of it like a bucket of cold water, head jerking up, eyes back in focus and full of horror. He lets go of her as if she's suddenly made of fire.

"Oh shit," he says. "Oh shit, Rey, I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

He scrambles backwards from her, and she gets an eyeful of everything she's tried not to picture these last three years. A wide expanse of creamy skin, smooth over a nicely defined chest and stomach. Strong thighs, strong arms. Everything about him is big and muscular and _alpha_. And that heavy cock, thick and meaty and curved up like a scythe. She gapes.

"Fuck," he says, eyes darting all over her bared body in incomprehension. "Why are you wet?"

Rey blushes white-hot all over, because she _is_ wet, she realizes. Slick has smeared itself over her inner thighs. But he's not looking at that, and she remembers that her whole body still has dapples of water in random places.

"I was taking a shower and I forgot my towel!" She comes to her senses and flees, scrabbling as quickly as she can to the other side of the bed to hide. The first thing available is the Baby Maker blanket, but she throws that as far away as she can and finds her discarded towel instead. "What the hell were you doing?"

"I didn't think you were here." Ben grabs the Baby Maker for himself and quickly covers up. Like either of them have anything left to hide.

"You couldn't hear me?"

"I had headphones in, I was—"

"What the hell was that with the scenting—"

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me, you just…" He swallowed. "You smell amazing today and when I….when fucking _Poe_ was all over you...I just…"

"Blame your mother and horny grandmother for that," she hisses, scratching at her gland. It's raised and sensitive and itches a _lot_ now, probably from how hard he was sucking on it. "I didn't want anything to do with him."

"God, Rey, I'm so sorry."

"Just go take your shower." She flops her head down onto the bed, groaning miserably.

The bathroom door closes with a click and Rey sighs, eyes closing. Her gland burns like fire.

* * *

Rey makes sure that she isn't there when Ben gets out. She changes quickly and heads downstairs to help with dinner, trying to put the whole stupid thing behind her. It's impossible, but she doesn't know what else to do. Leia gives her a funny look, and she wonders if she can scent the renewed _eau de Ben_ about her. Thankfully, she doesn't mention it. She just chatters happily about life, about her time in politics, about her brother, about anything besides her son's relationship with Rey or anyone else, and Rey is grateful.

Dinner prep is exhausting. It shouldn't be — it's just chopping vegetables and mixing sauces — but Rey's weary and shaky by the end of it. She _really_ wants to go back to that big bed now. It's time to eat, though, so she'll have to find an excuse to get out of any nighttime activities and give herself an early bedtime.

Ben finally comes down and helps set the table. They do not make eye contact. Leia and Han aren't really making eye-contact either, so Rey supposes it isn't that too suspicious. Her gland is still ablaze and it's all she can do to not touch it. Han and Leia keep darting these puzzled glances at her that she might have missed, if she didn't already feel so keyed up to the fact that she was surrounded by three alphas. It's a relief when Padme comes down and starts taking control of the conversation herself.

Her body _aches_. By the time she's sitting down to eat, she wants to put her head on the table. She doesn't, but the need is mighty. This has been the longest day of her life.

"I ordered your phone, by the way," Ben tells her at some point when the conversation around the dinner table lags. "Hux said it'll be here tomorrow. In the meantime I emailed Mothma and explained that you lost your phone saving a dog from a bear. She approves."

"Monica?" Leia laughs. "She's my favorite person. That's just the sort of story she'd love."

"I always thought she was kind of stuffy," Han muses. "Bit of a stick in the mud. No sense of humor."

"Thanks for taking care of that," Rey tells him, wondering if this is the first time she's ever meant it so sincerely. She shivers against a chill that runs down her spine, gathering at the edges of her fingertips and toes like a fever. Ugh. If she caught something in that gross strip club…

"People like Monica Mothma are so important," Padme sighs philosophically. "We passed our torch to them, and now they are passing their torch to the next generation of leaders, like Rey here."

"Oh I'm...not cut out for public office…" Rey dodges faintly.

Ben makes a skeptical sound. "Aren't you? You strike me as ambitious enough to reach for something like that."

"You know I'm not." She shoots him a half-hearted glare and leans forward to take another bite.

Ben's gaze lingers on her, and Rey can _feel_ it. She can also detect the way his scent shifts a little. His interest has piqued, and there's a subtle note of anticipation in his usual musk. That's new, she thinks. She's never been able to translate his emotions through smell before.

When he looks back at his plate, she peeks a glance at him, hunched over his food like someone's about to take it away.

Leia and Han are squabbling about something — she's missed what. Padme still makes ponderous remarks about omega rights. Rey's head is thick and fuzzy and her bones hurt, but somehow she can't stop secretly tracing the lines of Ben's big body, remembering how he felt against her, a sea of skin enveloping her as he staked his claim on her gland.

Wet warmth pools between her legs in a generous gush.

Three sets of alpha eyes snap up from their dinner plates and are on her immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we go....


	7. Chapter 7

"Rey," Ben chokes.

Wow. She feels _really_ bad. She scrubs a hand over her eyes, trying to shake the awful sensations rolling through her body, throbbing through her bones and muscles. She's definitely getting sick. And she should probably connect the dots between why everyone, including Padme now, is looking at her like she just crawled onto the table to take a nap, but she just doesn't have the energy for it. Actually the table sounds pretty good right now. Except there's slick pooling under her butt and _ugh_ why, why, has her body started going haywire with the slick ever since she let Ben scent her?

"Are you kidding me with this?" Han says, throwing Ben a furious glare. "You'd bring her here when she was this close?"

"She wasn't supposed to be!" Ben fires back. He looks panicked. "She's not due for...I dunno like six months or something."

Due for what? Rey lays her head on the table. The cool wood feels amazing beneath her super-heated cheek. She is simultaneously chilled and boiling, goosebumps prickling over hot skin. She can't think very well. She doesn't even have enough presence to be embarrassed that she's sitting in a puddle of her own slick and there's a trio of baffled people watching her lay her head in the middle of their dinner plates.

The softest of whimpers escapes her.

"Ben, take her to the guest house," Leia says quickly. "I'll call Luke and tell him you won't be back for a few days."

Padme cackles with delight. "A breakthrough! How exciting. It's a sign, you know. We'll postpone my party until you're well again, Rey, don't worry about that. Maybe you'll come back with a nice shiny bite, hm?"

"Mom," Leia groans.

Rey doesn't follow any of what's happening. She just _really_ wants to be in bed right now. Whatever this is, it's accelerating now. Sweat is quickly beading on her brow, pebbling up on her nose. These symptoms are familiar, she thinks. She knows what this is. But it doesn't make sense, and she's too tired to figure it out right now.

Han gets up quickly. "I'll go unlock it. Ben, get her inside. Your mother and I will bring over a bunch of food and gatorade later."

"I'll bring the Baby Maker," Padme chimes.

"Um," Ben starts, sounding nervous and lost. "Wait I don't think I should—"

"You're not honestly thinking of _leaving_ her in this state?" Han challenges, voice rising sharply. He sounds super angry. Rey can smell his outrage like a blast of peppermint indignation. She wants to soothe him. She needs all the alphas to calm the fuck down. There's a frenzy happening here, three tempers stirred by blood in the water.

"Ben," Leia demands sharply. She's angry too. "You have to help her. Look at her!"

"I _am_ looking, but—"

"No buts," Han snarls. He lunges over the table and seizes his son by the collar. "What kind of pathetic alpha lets his omega suffer like this? Not my son, I'll tell you that. You see her through this or I'll break your jaw, kid, don't think I won't. She's your responsibility. Act like an alpha and take care of her."

Ben roughly shoves his father away, kicking his chair out from behind him so it goes crashing against a wall. He looks like he's ready to kill something.

Rey's vision glazes as a wave of pain rises, crests, and clenches in her abdomen. She whimpers again and sags. Ben's anger flickers, a candle flame blown by a breeze. Then suddenly he's there, pulling her chair back and scooping her up. He's _so_ strong. He acts like it's nothing to carry her. Yesterday morning, Rey might have been appalled by the idea of letting her assistant carry her around, but right now all she wants is a cozy bed. She appreciates his help getting her there. Her body relaxes in his arms.

"What's happening?" she asks.

"A nightmare," he replies.

"I feel terrible."

She doesn't know where they're going, but they've walked out into the not-dark-night. The air feels cool against her feverish skin.

Ben sounds grim. "You're going into heat."

That doesn't seem right. Heat? No. Her heats are very controlled. They begin on the same day every year, her symptoms follow a gradual incline, peak for two days, and then follow a slow decline on the third. She doesn't go from feeling fine two hours ago to flopped over in the middle of dinner, panting with pain and sweat and need.

"Not due for…" her head swims. "Another few months."

"Pretty sure your body doesn't know that. Did you forget your suppressant this morning?"

"No. I never do."

"Then it's probably because of what happened." He's walking across the yard now, towards one of the several extra buildings she's seen around. She shivers.

Did his aggressive attention to her mating gland do this? She wonders. If this is heat, maybe it's been coming on for a while and she didn't notice. Maybe it started when he first scented her. Or maybe it started last night, when they shared a bed. Oooh, bed. Yes, she needs to do that now. It'd be nice if he stayed. She could snuggle up to him and sleep and that would be heaven.

"Rey," he says, and his voice is urgent. "I need you to be alert for a minute. Please, can you do that?"

She feels like she's on the verge of sleep already. "Why?"

"We have to talk about something important."

"Mm'kay."

He swears softly under his breath. "Please stay awake. I need you to know the situation that's about to happen."

His neck is right there, scent glands a little pink. Close enough to taste. She hoists herself up in his arms, burying her nose against the base of his throat. "You smell really good, alpha. Like home."

"Fuck, _fuck_ , don't do that."

Another little flood of slick leaks through her already soaked pants. Is it on him? Does he know how wet she is? She'd kind of like to smear it into his gland right here. Mark him the way he's always marking her. Then everyone would know he is caught. He's hers.

They're moving into a new place now. A homey kind of place. It smells kind of like the big house. Clean. Ben kicks the door shut behind them and carries her to some bedroom. She barely glances around. This room is not like the one they've been staying in, but it's just as lovely. The bed is just as big. Ben doesn't put her on the bed, though. He sets her down on her feet and grabs her shoulders.

"Rey."

Her mind sharpens suddenly as she takes in the room. It's big and cozy, but it isn't right. The huge bed is four post, and there's a canopy on it and curtains tied to each of the posts. That's good. That will work, but she needs to make it better. She shoves his arms off of her and moves away from him. There's a closet here. She opens it, pleased to find it's full of blankets, and she takes them all. Rey collects every bit of linen, every towel, every washcloth, every pillow she can find in what she discovers is a two bedroom guest house. She piles every piece on the bed and begins arranging, fussing with her findings, placing them just right.

Ben is pacing around like he doesn't know what to do. His agitation smells sharp. She knows he wants to talk, but she has to do this first. It's important. At least he seems to understand, and doesn't try to stop her. She fusses and primps and fluffs and piles. She unties the curtains on three sides and lets them fall closed around the bed. It makes a dark, quiet den. That's _very_ good. Better than anything she's ever had at home. Finally when she's satisfied, she climbs off and examines it. It seems nice and cozy to her, but she glances at Ben, because it feels more important that _he_ like it.

"It's very good," he tells her, his expression softening. "It's a great nest. You did so good."

Rey's heart practically melts with relief and happiness, and she's not too far gone yet to know why that's ridiculous. Still, she's so proud of herself she could burst. Instead she just gives him a shy little smile. She's never had anyone to approve of her nest before. It eases some of the anxiety that comes at the beginning of a heat. It's a pleasant surprise.

Ben hesitates. "Are you — can we —?"

She sighs and nods. With the nest done and approved, her sudden fit of energy is quickly ebbing and the urge to sleep will collapse on her again very soon. But she bought herself a moment of lucidity. And she can't deny it. He's right. This is _definitely_ heat, and pretty soon she's going to be sucked into a hellish haze of misery of pain and crying and begging for relief that doesn't come.

Rey _hates_ her heat. It's four days of excruciating pain that nothing can satisfy. Four days of burning alive, sweating to death, and doing unspeakable things to herself to try in vain to ease the torments of her unfulfilled body. She does _not_ want to go through that here, but it's a tidal wave coming in and she's helpless to stop it.

"I'm sorry," he says softly, like he can see her thought process. He reaches out and brushes her hair back over one shoulder, looking at her neck with a wince. "I shouldn't have tried to scent you."

"Try? You succeeded." The proximity of his skin to her skin is like holding a flame to her throbbing neck. She pushes him away.

"Yeah...I did. I shouldn't have. Not while we were naked and…"

She frowns impatiently. "Okay, I don't have a lot of time here. I need to sleep. Did you want to talk about regrets or…?"

He huffs. "They expect me to be here. With you."

She blinks, the realizing settling like iron in her stomach. That was the argument earlier. The accusation that Ben is a bad alpha for even thinking otherwise. Of course they'd think that. Ben and Rey had done a good job of convincing them this was real. And a real alpha, on the brink of marrying and mating his omega, would never leave her alone in the middle of her heat like this.

"Oh."

"You can lock the bedroom door behind me. I'll stay in the other room." He says this, but the look on his face makes her think he has private doubts about that strategy. "I'll turn the knob on my door and lock it from the outside so I can't get out. I don't want to hurt you. I...I _won't_ hurt you. But if this triggers my rut…"

The gland peeking out from his collar already looks pink, and Rey has no delusions what being trapped in a house with an omega in heat will do to an unmated alpha.

Fuck. This is what they've come to. Two days into a fake engagement and _this_ happens.

She's tired. So tired.

"I don't know what to do here, Ben," she admits. Her skin feels itchy and her fingertips are still icy cold while the rest of her burns. She shivers again. "I mean I know what will inevitably happen."

"Do you want that?" he asks.

Rey honestly doesn't know what she wants. The way she's felt any time he's touching her, or the way she felt when they kissed...she craves that feeling again. But she's scared too. Because none of this is real, and she can't let herself pretend it is.

"I can help you," he says, so softly it's barely a whisper.

And fuck, the way his voice sends actual _fire_ coursing through her veins. She closes her eyes because looking at his stupid beautiful face is confusing her. It's the face of her coworker, her subordinate, the quiet and dependable alpha who kept her ship sailing for three years. But it's also the face of someone open and artless, someone she's already crashed into naked, felt his really, absurdly large cock pressing into her stomach, had that plush mouth on her mouth, on her mating gland. And when Poe was all up on her, she kept thinking it was wrong, and Ben, Ben was right.

She's never shared a heat before. In fact, it's been a matter of pride and triumph that she's managed to get to her twenties without having shared one. But it's always so miserable. And maybe, just this once, maybe it doesn't have to be miserable. It also doesn't have to mean anything. It's just biology. They can help each other and chalk it up to something like a physical illness. An illness that compels them to frantically breed for four days, admittedly, but nothing to overthink and make weird.

She opens her eyes again, and hates that there are tears in them, but she is _so tired_. She feels sick and confused and _super aroused,_ and she can't pretend she doesn't want him. She does. She wants all of him inside her. Just the idea makes another gush of slick soak down the inner thighs of her pants. She's a mess.

"Okay." She nods. "Okay."

He looks briefly shocked. "Really?"

"But you're not just doing it because of the promotion, right? Because I'm not selling my first time with an alpha for workplace—"

She's taken off guard when his body suddenly envelopes hers, his hands at her face, tipping her up so his lips can get to her. The kiss is blazing, and it leaves Rey reeling when he breaks away abruptly to say:

"It's not about the promotion. _Fuck_ , I'm really your first? No, no it's not about— it's not about anything. I just want...I want…"

He stumbles over the words, and Rey sags in his arms because she can't hold herself up anymore. Now that she got herself through this decision, she doesn't want to think anymore. The weariness rolls over her like a tidal wave. "Alpha," she whimpers.

His shudders and closes his eyes, leaning his forehead against hers. "I've got you, Omega. It's alright."

He scoops her up again, just like before, and this time puts her into the soft comfort of her nest. She burrows deep, humming contentedly.

"Are you alright?" he asked, leaning over her to press his lips to her jaw.

"Mm'hmm. I'm good," she mumbles. "Just wanna sleep right now."

"Okay. I'm going to stock the kitchen with food. I'll be right back, okay? As soon as you need me, I'll be here."

She hums her assent to this and doesn't think about a single other thing before she drifts off into a deep, deep sleep.

* * *

Rey wakes in _agony_.

She's drenched in both sweat and slick, and her skin feels prickly, hot, and raw. Like an exposed nerve. Panicked and panting, she yanks off her shirt and shimmies out of her pants, adding them to the nest. Her underwear goes too because it's completely ruined and useless anyway. It doesn't even register where she is or why it's so damn dark, all she knows is that she's in heat and she needs immediate relief. Where is her heat survival bag? That big knotting dildo with built in vibrator, the bottles of electrolyte fluid, the silicone rod she bites on to muffle her cries? She scrabbles around, but she can't find them.

She doesn't know where she is. Nothing smells familiar. She gives a helpless little moan and slides two fingers through her scorching wetness, desperate for any kind of stimulation to take the unbearable edge off. Her clit is swollen and sensitive, and her stomach cramps _hard_ at the first touch.

The door to the room slams open and a huge shadow blocks the light streaming in behind him. He's shirtless now, wearing only pajama pants.

" _Omega_ ," he rumbles.

His scent washes over her in a wave of comfort, and she remembers. She isn't alone this time. There's someone here. Someone for her.

It's such a relief she almost weeps. _Alpha is here_.

He's at her side, sitting on edge of the only side of the bed that isn't curtained, handing her a glass of water. She takes it and guzzles it greedily. It's cool down her throat. His hand too as it lands on her forehead, feels her cheeks and the back of her neck.

"You're burning up, Omega," he says softly. "Does it hurt?"

She nods, grimacing as another fierce cramp seizes her insides. A fresh gush of slick coats her thighs and puddles against her ankles where she kneels on the bed. Ben's eyes rake down her body, unmistakably hungry. There's no pretense of modesty in the way he looks at her, no shame at being caught. He's brazen as his attention flicks from her breasts to the place between her legs, and everywhere else. Like it's a buffet he can't wait to explore.

"You smell ripe," he says, a cool hand wandering up her bare thigh. His eyes meet hers, and they're blazing like coals. "You smell _ready_."

"Please, Alpha," she whispers. She can tell he's hanging on to the edge. Like at moment he'll lose control and just take her, launching into rut right along with her heat. Their earlier nude collision and his feast on her gland has gotten to him too. She _wants_ him to lose control like that, the way she feels out of control. Maybe it's unwise. It's better if he keeps his wits about him because they're in uncharted territory here. But she's too vulnerable like this. Even in her consuming desire, she knows it. She needs him to be wrecked too.

"I've got you, baby, it's okay," he soothes, easing her back down into the nest. He stays on the edge but adjusts so he can lean over her, pressing his lips to the underside of her jaw, trailing kisses down her throat. His touches inflame her body, making her passage clamp hungrily over nothing, her stomach twisting with unfulfilled want. It _hurts_.

"Need you," she pants.

"I know. I want to take it slow, though, okay? This is new for both of us."

Slow doesn't work for Rey. Her insides are swollen and throbbing and she needs the cooling balm they say only alpha spend and a thick knot can provide. She's never had it, and now that it's right here in front of her, she won't be denied.

She slakes trembling fingers through her vulva, gathering a viscous coating of slick on them.

"Alpha," she says softly.

He lifts his head from where he'd been breathing a reverent line of soft kisses between her breasts. She brings her fingers to his mouth and lightly smears one tip across his lips.

In the lingering light from the open doorway, she can see how he shudders, a tongue peeking out to taste what she left there. And then his hand catches her wrist and he brings all three fingers to his mouth, rumbling low and needy as he draws them into his mouth, licking and sucking them clean like they're covered in the sweetest nectar.

"Mine," he growls.

His scent shifts. It's darker now, stronger. It smells of possession, of control. His teeth scrape lightly against her fingers, and she can see the muscles tightening in his arms. When her fingers no longer hold his interest he lets go, moving off somewhere else. His arms wrap around her legs and he pulls her to the edge of the bed while he slids off the edge, onto his knees on the floor. Rey scrabbles to fix the nest, momentarily preoccupied until his head dives between her thighs and a hot, hungry tongue swipes right through her center.

A startled moan escapes her in a rush. He growls in approval and attends to his feast, tongue undulating through her throbbing, overly-sensitive places like he's tying to take every drop of slick she can give him. He sucks and rumbles, and Rey's head is thrown back, her body arched like it wants to get away. But she doesn't want that at all. She wants to drown in this pleasure so strong its almost unbearable. She pants and trembles and moans, and her fingers knot into his hair. She grinds against him, savoring the electric sparks that arise when he pays particular attention to her clit. He drives against her without mercy until she breaks with a cry, and even then he works her though it on the knife's edge of _too much_.

When he lifts his head, he looks like a different man. He's going to have what he wants. There's no fighting for dominance here. Ben has it, and Rey's only option is to submit. And oh, how she revels in it. She wants to give him _everything_.

"Alpha, come into the nest," she pleads when she can find her voice again.

He lets her hand go and stands up. His thick cock is tucked up into the waistband of his pajama pants, swollen head peeping out the top. She wants to touch it, and does while he's distracted yanking off his shirt. His stomach clenches and he jerks in surprise when her fingertip skates through the slick beaded at his tip. She swirls it over his spongy head, thrilled that this tapered end is going to dive into her darkest places. He watches her for a moment, dark eyes glittering, as she explores the little bit of his cock she can get to. Then he gently guides her hands away and thumbs the waistband of his pants down, kicking them aside. That wicked scythe she remembers from before flops free, curving, swollen and erect, towards his navel, the thickened portion near his base already engorged enough to show her a promise of the knot to come. Her inner walls clench nervously. That thing looks more enormous now than it did earlier today, grinding into her stomach.

He's on the bed and in her pile of soft things, and she can smell the desperation rolling off him. His voice is rough when he says, "Need to take you now, omega. No more waiting."

"Yes," she breathes, a jolt of excitement running through her to combat the clenching pain in her abdomen. She reclines back again, adjusting as he settles over her.

"Fuck," he swears, arms shaking. He positions himself between her legs. "It aches — I need —"

"I need it too, Alpha," she whimpers. "Please. Now."

He thrusts a few times, gliding his dick through her lower lips and thoroughly coating himself in her copious lubrication. He's so hard. She tilts her hips into him to allow his passes to grind along her clit and _oh,_ that feels so good. Ben growls again, lifting himself to look between them. His heavy cock rests on her belly, showing them both the promise of how deep it will go. Rey props herself up on one arm, watching as he draws back and redirects, nestling the tip of him in her hollow. He pushes, and there's pressure, and something _gives_ and suddenly the head of him pops through, disappearing a few inches into her body. She watches her impalement for as long as she can, eventually her head and body falling back as a gasp slides through gritted teeth. Her body flares open to let him nestle inside. He groans and she groans and together they die a little, for slick as she is, it's still a difficult slide down to that thickened bulge at his base.

Her nails dig into his skin as her muscles frantically spasm, trying eagerly to accommodate this massive new intrusion, the ache in her swollen belly momentarily banked in favor of another, albeit more pleasant ache. Ben's body lowers, his arms wrapping tight to crush her in against him as he jerks out and pumps back in immediately, shudders wracking his body.

"So tight, omega," he groans. "Fuck, you're so perfect. Always knew it. Smelling like my whole world. Knew you'd be a perfect fit."

 _Alpha is pleased_ , her omega mind purrs happily, even as she gasps and whimpers against his violent pushing below.

"Can't…" he gasps. "Can't control—"

"Don't," she whispers, tugging his head down to her. She slides her lips along his ear. "Don't try. Let go."

Sane Rey is alarmed to hear herself say these things, aware that she's barely accommodating him as it is, she needs time to adjust to his girth and length, but her hindbrain doesn't care about that. She just wants to be fucked and bred hard. She wants him to nail her into mattress.

Ben makes the most bestial sound she's ever heard, his teeth sinking into her collar bone as her words unlock some desperate thing inside him. His helpless movement become purposeful and rough now, knees digging in beneath her to give him leverage. He drills into her with so much force she whimpers, pangs of ferocious pleasure wrenched up from his drilling, spreading their way through her system, dragging her into a senseless spiral. His arms pin her against him as the sound of wet smacks and and soft desperate moans and heavy panting fill the air.

Rey's eyes roll back in her head. She moans at every drag of his heavy tool inside her, every plunge into her darkness. She's completely undone now, jerking in his arms as she chases more of this feeling, crying out when he hitches his hips just so and stars burst behind her eyes.

The heat pouring off her body envelopes them both. They're sweaty and sticky and there's what feels like a lake of slick pooling beneath her legs, smearing over their thighs.

She doesn't care. She bites and sucks at Ben's shoulder to stifle the noises being wrung from her at every thrust.

"Are you close, omega?" he rumbles, the words vibrating through her.

She whimpers and nods. There's an unbearable tension coiled low in her pelvis, a burning sensation on the brink of ignition.

"Need help?"

She nods again. Just a little more.

He lets her sink back into the mattress, lifting himself away to press a brief kiss to her lips. His desperate pace doesn't relent as he skates a hand down her body, briefly palming and squeezing one breast before traveling onward.

The first touch to her clit is like an electric shock. She jumps and gives a little gasp. He seems to like that very much because he does it again. Then he switches his tactics to something a little more merciful, applying less direct stimulation, working his way around it, above it, making Rey sigh with pleasure.

"Look how well you're doing, little omega," he hums approvingly as his fingers explore the place where they're connected. "So perfect, so good. Taking your alpha's cock like you know what you're doing. Can you take more?"

She nods, the praise like a fresh hit of a drug dragging her even closer to that edge. His thumb works her clit gently.

"Do you know what I'm going to do to you?" His voice is so dark and sinister and Rey loves it. She shakes her head. His black eyes bore into hers. He leans his head to her ear to issue his promise: "I'm going to knot you. I'm going to plug you up until there's no room left, and then I'm going to breed you."

Rey moans and grinds down hard onto him, already so very aware of how that swollen base of him is catching on every pass, how it's getting harder to keep pushing it in and pulling it out.

"Can you do it, my little omega?" His glittering dark eyes consume her, swallow her into his singularity. "Can you take everything I have to give you? Every drop?"

She nods. She'll be good. She wants it. Wants all his spend until her belly is bloated and full from how much he pumped into her.

"Such a good girl," he groans, leaning in to swipe his broad tongue over her abused mating gland.

And that's what does it.

Rey cries out and grabs onto him for dear life as the strongest orgasm she's ever felt rips through her, her cunt and womb contracting together in a delicious tide of bliss and sublime relief. She trembles and rides it as Ben continues to pound her through it, she's not sure he could stop even if he wanted to.

"Fuck," he says brokenly. "It's so tight I can't—"

Her body tries to pull him in, tries to hang on to his knot, clenching around him like it wants to be an alpha female and grab him and hold him fast inside her.

"Come alpha," Rey pleads, dizzy as she climbs down from her high. "Need your knot."

A rough sound wrenches from his lips and he shoves hard into her, managing to pop his knot through her entrance one last time before it swells and locks them in place, and oh, it's so big, it's too big, it's too much—

 _Heat_.

A different kind than consumed her body. This is inside her canal, inside her belly. It feels so warm, like it's glowing inside her. He shakes and grunts as it spills from him in gushes she can feel, hot like molten metal. She gasps, the ache in her abdomen dissolving as he locks his teeth into the skin of her shoulder and groans, his cock jumping as it pumps more and yet more into her, a seemingly never ending succession of throbs and spurts pulsing through her core.

Swiftly he rolls them over, careful to keep them tethered, and shudders when another splash of him erupts inside her. They're quiet for a minute after that. He gasps and hisses when another wave hits him, and she nuzzles into his smooth, soft skin.

"You're amazing, Rey," he whispers softly when he can finally speak again, fingers gliding over her back. She wriggles, settling in, getting comfortable. "You did so well. Are you okay?"

"I'm perfect," she sighs, savoring the stretch, the fullness wedged just on the other side of her entrance. "Feels good."

He tenses up briefly, and there's another bloom of warmth inside her like a delicious tide of comfort. She smiles and cuddles into his chest. This is good. This is right. Her mind is soft and sated, and she's not thinking about how this is her assistant she's tied to, someone who a week ago was almost a stranger. She's only thinking about how nice this is, and how she's missed out on it all this time. He's been there for three years. That's three heats they could have shared. How silly she was to deny herself this pleasure.

"My omega is happy," he purrs against her, reading her scent well. "I never thought I'd get to see you like this. Always fighting what you are. Always pretending. But why fight this?"

"Mmm," she croons into his skin, eyes drifting shut. "I feel safe right now. I never feel safe."

His arms wind tight around her and he pushes her down onto his knot as he releases another load. "I've got you. You're safe."

"I know," she says, stumbling over it for the ripple of pleasure that echoes up from her strained, stretched core.

"Ah, fuck, you're doing amazing, taking everything," his face twists in agonized bliss as he grinds into her, even though it barely nudged his knot forward deeper by a few centimeters. It makes her gasp. She could swear he's injecting every shot directly into her womb for how warm and full it feels. She likes it.

"Like it," she mumbles. "Want more."

"Don't worry, we're not finished yet." It's a promise, whispered dark and soft against her head. "There's so much more for you. All for you. Only you."

Safe, sated, happy, Rey smiles and breathes in the delicious comfort of his scent as her body unwinds and relaxes. He keeps gently stroking her back, and in the cozy quiet of her nested den, she drifts off while he's still coming apart inside her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more smut ahead! going camping this weekend tho so you might have to wait until monday


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple TW for this chapter: 
> 
> 1) Mentions of baby-making in the context of heat talk. 
> 
> 2) Mentions of child abuse and neglect

Rey has no idea how long they stay together that first time. She only knows that the minute his knot reduces just enough for her to wriggle around, she starts to writhe with need again. It wakes her from her light doze, this wave of urgency radiating through her abdomen and spine. Like that first generous contribution was only enough to buy her some peace, but now she needs more. And before she can even whimper to ask for it, he rouses and rolls them over so she's beneath him again.

He's so huge. It's something that keeps buzzing through her mind with a kind of awe. His size. She's always known this about him, but she's never known it the way she does now. The way he drowns her body in his own, all thick muscles and vast shoulders. He's everywhere at once, working above her as he starts to rock into her body. It feels fucking _intense_. He can't even fully withdraw, his knot hasn't relaxed enough to get through, but he's able to push it through her core again and again. She wants to unleash a litany of curses at the feeling this wrings from her aching, needy passage, but she can't even find voice enough for that. Her breath is reduced to pants, sweat beading along her body as she endures the sublime torment of this pleasure.

She arches and whimpers and writhes, and he works her through it. He's not good for speaking right now either, teeth clenched so hard she's worried they'll shatter. When she manages to roll her eyes up to his face, he looks as lost and desperate as she feels. She reaches and holds his face in her hands. He leans his forehead against her a huffs, a low sound in his chest, caught between a growl and a whine.

It's...a lot.

They're both dragged to the very edge of human sensation, feeling every nerve alight with fire, too much and not enough and so, so difficult to endure. There are emotions caught up in it too — but Rey lets them wash through without examining them. Feelings swirl with every thrust of his knot spreading her open, feelings that would terrify her in any other situation. Words like _mine,_ and _mate,_ and _forever_ carry on the heady tides, but she doesn't let them linger. They're gone a moment later in favor of _need,_ and _come,_ and _knot_.

It doesn't have to be sentimental. It just has to be raw.

Then they're both groaning, half-breathed expletives shared between them as they crash into each other's orgasms like ruinous wreckage, bodies colliding. There are tears in her eyes because nothing has ever felt as good as coming apart as his knot leaps to full size inside her and his feverish lips breath hymns of senseless praise over her skin. There's never been a better moment than this in her whole life. She's never felt so full or whole or safe. Nothing bad can happen while she's tied to her alpha.

And at least for now, that's enough. Nothing else has to matter.

They don't really speak while they're tied that second time. Her anxiety about how intense this all is calms and she just purrs happily, crushed beneath the pleasant weight of her still shuddering alpha. She marvels and preens at how much he comes. Her instincts tell her that he wouldn't have so much to give if he weren't pleased. But she's doing well. They're good for each other. And he _is_ pleased. She can taste his pleasure when she nibbles her lips along his chest, can smell it in the way his thick scent swirls around her. Alpha is happy, and so her omega is happy.

Eventually he rolls them to their side. She cuddles into his chest and he wraps his arms around her like he knows this is what she wants. To be held.

She's never really understood the big deal with alphas. She's never understood why omegas act like it's their life's goal to find an alpha, or why heat advice message boards all talk about how none of the alternative treatments will ever be as effective as having an alpha to help. She used to laugh with derision when some omega or another would post about how they looked forward to their heats, even _loved_ their heats, after they were mated. No one, she thought, has ever, in the history of humans, _enjoyed_ a heat.

But she's only a couple hours into this one, and yeah...she kind of gets it.

It only starts to hurt when the pressure of his knot eases.

The third time, it contracts enough that he pulls out with a little bit of effort and a gush of cum. She whines at the loss but he shushes her, flipping her over onto her stomach before pushing in again. He's only just seated when there's a knock at the door.

They freeze.

Rey lifts her head, eyes darting around her little den to check that they're safe. They can't be interrupted.

She feels the change in Ben, though. He's not checking that they're safe. He's already bristling with perceived threat. It makes Rey's blood run chill, the way his body hunches, seems to grow larger and more menacing.

"Ben," someone calls as the sound of the front door opens. It sounds like his grandmother. "I trust you're in the bedroom. If you are, make sure the door is closed. If you're not, do your best to get there, or give us a shout if you can't. We're going to come in and stock the fridge, okay? Your mother is with me. Don't breathe if you can help it."

Rey doesn't know much about these things, but she knows that it's a bad idea for another alpha to come into Ben's space right now. Not when he's in rut. Not when he has a willing omega to protect from competition. Even if his mother is definitely _not_ competition. She's not sure his hindbrain knows that.

He slides out of her and leaves the bed. She scrambles up and after him, but she still feels feverish and weak and doesn't make it to the edge of the bed before she curls up against a cramp of protest from her uterus.

Ben growls out into the empty house, "make it quick."

And then closes the bedroom door with a click.

Back at the bed, he re-arranges Rey how he wants, back on her stomach. When he pushes back into her, she sighs in relief. He lowers his body over hers, trailing his lips up her back. "You have to be quiet, little one," he says softly. "Or they'll find us."

He curls an arm under her, thumbing lightly over her lips. "Can you do that? Can you be quiet?"

She nods, taking his thumb into her mouth. He allows it for a moment, tolerates her urgent sucking as she pushes her hips up and back against him, trying to get him to start moving. But then he takes it away again, snaking his arm between her body and the bed until he slides his hot palm up against the flat of her abdomen. He gives a short, shallow thrust, and she gasps a surprised moan because the pressure of his hand on the outside and his cock on the inside makes his already impressive size seem mammoth-huge. She could swear he's rutting against his own hand.

"Quieter," he warns, voice dark and silky. "I can't let them find you. My omega."

She buries her face in the nest because she doesn't trust herself, and because he's pumping harder now and _fuck_ if it doesn't make her choke back loud cries. Outside the room, they can hear faint rummaging — cupboards banging, the fridge opening and closing again. She should be grateful for the food, but eating is the last thing on her mind right now and she just needs them to go so she can let go of the pressure building in her chest. Ben's agitation comes through as his mother's scent makes its way to him. He tries to conceal a rumble of displeasure, numbing himself to the territorial wrath by fucking Rey even harder.

The blankets and towels muffle her long, shaky moan when she comes again. Ben pulls her hips roughly into him and whispers about what a good girl she is, being so nice and quiet when she comes on his cock. It's enough to make her almost fall apart again.

"I put the baby maker on the couch if you want it!" Padme sings from somewhere inside the house. "We're going now. You two take your time. There's no rushing these things, you know. Text your mother if you need anything, Ben."

A moment later, the front door closes with a conspicuously loud slam.

"Alpha," Rey pants, finally lifting her head from where she'd been biting hard on the edge of a pillow. "Alpha, wait."

" _Wait?_ " His hips slow, his voice rough and ragged. "Are you alright?"

"Yes. I—" she pushes against the bed, but he's pinning her down. "I need—"

He stops and lifts himself off her, pulling out immediately. "What do you need?"

She's off like a flash, cramps forgotten, fever forgotten, leaping off the bed and slipping beneath the curtain. Ben growls and lunges for her, hand barely brushing her ankle before she's out of his grasp. She's already running across the room when he starts after her. She yanks the door open and darts down the hallway, fleeing the furious alpha on her heels. Rey makes a bee-line for the couch. Her eyes are fixated on the think she wants most. That soft, beautiful antique quilt.

Ben's arms are around her waist the minute her fingers grasp the quilt. She hauls it up with her as he dumps her over the arm of the couch, ass in the air.

"You," he huffs as he pulls her hips up and guides his cock back into her with a rough, wet shove, "shouldn't have run, little omega."

She squeaks, unable to explain herself because he's staking her down into the couch with long, firm strokes. It feels like punishment. It feels like a reward a little bit too, though, because no punishment ever knocked against _that place_ inside her and made her jerk with pleasure. She groans through gritted teeth and manages to coax out a single word.

"Please."

Ben's cock inside her _throbs_ so hard she can feel it. Oh, he likes that. "Please what, omega?" he growls.

She doesn't even really know what she's asking for. Not mercy. This ruthless drilling is exactly what her desperate body wants. Maybe for more. Maybe for his knot. There's a feeling of _wanting_ inside her that's welling up, something indefinable and impossible to understand. She can't figure out how to coalesce the need into words, so she just buries her face into the soft quilt, holding onto it for dear life. The scent of it is _home_.

He's quickly losing control, and she knows it. His knot is swelling. She doesn't know what'll happen if he knots her like this, bent over the arm of the couch, but her body doesn't seem to care. She pushes back on him hard, begging for that too-full feeling, needing the comfort of his warm spend flooding her insides.

But her alpha is smart. He knows a compromising position when he's in one, so he pauses long enough to loop his arms around her torso and pull her up, backing both of them up to the couch where he sits, and sits her right onto his waiting knot. She gives a hoarse little cry when it immediately expands, locking her tight to his lap. He latches onto her mating gland from behind, setting his teeth to the edge of it but not quite breaking. It makes her come in a violent clench of muscles. She doubles over, hugging the quilt as ripples of sublime ecstasy radiate up from her stretched, plugged cunt. Ben leans with her, not breaking from her gland, showing no mercy as he wrings every drop of pleasure out of her that he can while he paints her insides in warm splashes.

Finally he lets go, soothing her gland with a little lick. They're both struggling to catch their breath, bodies quickly cooling in that brief respite they've earned.

"You," he says breathlessly. "You want that thing to work."

She nods mindlessly into the blanket. Of course she does. That's why she ran for it. She needs the mystical powers this quilt may or may not have to help her make use of this worthy mate's efforts and give herself genetically superior offspring. It's what her body demands. Of course, if she were in her right mind, she'd realize _no_ that's no what she wants at all. But right minds went left a couple hours ago.

"Don't worry," he promises, soft and low in her ear. "It will. It'll take."

She bites her tongue to keep herself from begging him to claim her. It rises up in her chest with so much _need_ that she finally has a name for the wanting. She wants to belong to him. She wants him to take her for his own, and pump her full of babies, and keep her this safe and secure forever.

But Rey's got just enough of herself left to doubt it. And so she doesn't say it.

* * *

A rut is a powerful thing. Every bit an even match for a heat. Sometimes he needs to fuck again even before she does, and he's practically desperate with need before his knot finally releases. The breaks between are brief. He plumbs her again and again, like she's the key to his survival. She can barely hang on and oh, it is _everything_ she needs. He's wild, savagely hollowing her out while he nips and sucks at her shoulders and spine. He licks her mating gland a few times over the course of that first 24 hours, and she finally breaks, begging him with desperate sobs to _please_ , _please_ bite.

But Ben is cruel. He just snarls angrily and bites somewhere else, teeth sinking into skin enough to draw blood as he knots her so hard she can't breathe. She doesn't care about the pain of these useless bites. She only cares about the disappointment.

At first, there's nothing but his rut and her heat. Nothing but slick and cum and repeated fucking like they don't know how to do anything else. It's desperation at its most fevered. He can barely be gone from her long enough to get Gatorade or a simple snack for them before either or both of them is almost weeping with need again. Rey doesn't really know day from night, because the light from the window never abates, and the dark cocoon of their nest doesn't shift. She sleeps knotted and wakes up fucking and she's so full of cum her belly feels tight and heavy. So little of it ever has time to ooze out. He just keeps feeding more and more into her, plugging up anything from escaping. Sometimes he jostles too much out with his rough rutting, which makes him growl with displeasure. Sometimes he tries to push it back into her with his fingers.

Her heat doesn't hurt. The hunger for _more_ remains as ferocious as ever, but she doesn't have time to start cramping or aching before he's already attending to her again.

She can't think further than the next position. The next knot. The way his scent completely covers her like that lovely soft quilt she keeps near them at all times. She suckles on his glands for comfort, whenever she can get access to them. He gets skittish if ever she gets too close to his mating gland. He can lick and nip and suck at hers all he wants, but if she tries to do the same, he switches their positions so she no longer has the right angle.

It frustrates her, but no negative emotion can last for too long, living in this haze of orgasm and lust.

But late into the second day, moments of lucidity begin to cut through the frenzy. Moments when they were temporarily sated. It only happens while they're knotted. Reality trickles in and Rey feels a flash of terrible awkwardness, to realize what she's doing and who she's doing it with. She'd agreed to this, she knows. But it was easier to deal with when she didn't have these flashes of understanding.

Sometimes it occurs to her that this is _Ben's_ dick stuck up inside her. It's his semen she's gorging on. And when this is over, they're going to have to figure out how to pretend it never happened.

Fortunately those moments are few and far between. They make her feel panicky, which triggers Ben to comfort her, and he fucks the panic right out.

But the more these moments happen, the more they're able to talk. And talking wasn't really something Rey planned on when all of this started.

"Tell me about your childhood," he says softly, brushing her hair back so he can pepper small, soft kisses along the curved descent of her neck. "Tell me about your family."

She shudders, and there's a corresponding constriction of her muscles around his knot. The dull ache in her belly is once again soothed, her fiery needs once again quelled. Her head lolls back under the seductive magic of his mouth. "Mm, no."

"Tell me," he urges again.

"Why? It's not a good story."

"I need to know why my omega walks around this life not feeling safe." He nibbles, just lightly, just teasingly, along her gland. He loves doing this. She wants to tell him to commit or leave it alone, but she can't. Even this feels too good. It makes her gasp and clench tight, earning another burst of warm cum deep inside her.

"Please," she whimpers, head spinning.

"Be a good girl and tell me your secrets," he says, planting a kiss on the end of her nose instead.

Ben has very nice lips. Rey loves his lips. They're full and soft and oh so clever, sparking electricity wherever they land. No wonder she had such a reaction when she kissed him. They're the nicest lips in the world. And he's the best tasting thing in the world. Maybe all those silly locals are right. Maybe they are destined for this.

"My parents were bad people," she says quietly, still looking at his lovely lips and how they twist up in approval when she gives him this piece of herself. "They were alcoholics."

"Alcoholism doesn't make you a bad person," he muses. "It's an illness. Is that why you don't drink?"

"Yeah. It is. The alcoholism was one thing, but they were criminals too. They stole and cheated and hurt people, they defrauded innocents out of their honest money."

"Hmm," he rumbles, going back to work on her neck — at one of her scent glands this time, steering clear of the spot that made her beg for his teeth. "What was that like for you?"

"Bad," she says, her voice hitching a little because _fuck_ it feels amazing, what he's doing. "They either didn't notice me at all, or noticed me way too much. Weeks and weeks would go by where they'd ignore me like a pesky fly buzzing around the flat we shared with my uncle, and I'd have to feed myself or else go hungry. I'd go to school and sometimes it would be the only meal of the day, because I couldn't steal food from the kitchen while they were around. If they caught me taking _their_ food, they'd hit me. So I ate at school, or while they were out."

His head jerks up, lips curling in a snarl. "They hit you?"

She shrugs, looks away. The memories are rushing back now, too-long held back by a stubborn refusal to acknowledge them. But her defenses are weak right now, and she still feels so safe, maybe the memories can't hurt her if she lets them wash over her now. Ben is here. Their bodies are fused. His strength is her strength. She's got _real_ alpha inside her right now, she doesn't have to pretend.

"That was when they didn't care. And then, sometimes out of the blue, they'd pretend that they did. Suddenly I had rules, routines, bed times, bath times, meal times. I was clean and fed. I had sensible punishments like time-outs. They checked up on homework. They checked in with my teachers to make sure I was a good student. My mother would read me books at bedtime. My father would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. A social worker would come around and I'd be so happy, I'd tell them everything was good. And then, out of the blue, everything would go back to how it was. Like I was alone. Like I was nothing. After a while, I stopped trusting the good times. I hated them for it."

Ben's eyes are boring into hers now, all his interest in teasing her with kisses gone. He's got that look in his eye that sometimes scares her. The look that makes her think he's staring straight through all the haze of heat, through the rut, through their charade and workplace relationship, through all the bullshit of her alpha facade, and right to the bare truth of her.

"Go on," he says firmly.

She swallows. This isn't how heats or ruts are supposed to go. They're supposed to be way too out of it for conversations like this. But the flood has started and she couldn't hold it back now if she wanted anyway.

"Then when I was eight, they defrauded the wrong guy, and they were killed for it. Then I was left with my uncle. He was horrible. An absolute brute. He didn't touch me, but the way he looked at me..." She shuddered. "My parents were betas. I thought I would be too. But when I presented, my uncle saw me as a commodity to be sold. He told me he'd allow paying alphas to see me through my heats. He'd use a collar so they couldn't bite. Said we could make a lot of money that way. So I ran."

Rage flashes through Ben, white-hot and breathtaking. She feels it in his scent, in his cock, in the tension of his body. The snarls in his chest rise and suddenly he's clutching her to his iron-hard chest like someone's about to break in and take her away. Hatred rolls through his scent. _Murder._ It should scare her. It doesn't. His knot grows impossibly bigger inside her, like his body knows no one can take his place they can never be separated. Despite everything, she gives a lusty groan and squirms on the delicious bulk wedged into her sensitive spots.

"Keep going," he commands, still pinning her to his chest.

She nuzzles into him, closing her eyes, amused at how ridiculously safe and happy she feels when talking about something so dark and horrible. "I was homeless after that. Heats were hard. I had to hide where no one could find me. Sometimes alphas got close. I learned ways to disguise what I am. I managed to finish school and get a scholarship to university. I knew it was my only way out. Reading was the only thing that made me happy throughout all those years. I knew I wanted to work in publishing somehow."

"That's why you love _Emily of New Moon_." His dark voice softens with realization.

She pushes against him, insistent on breaking his hold so she can get a good look at his face. "How did you know that was my favorite book?"

"You have a tattered old copy in your desk. Dog-eared and torn and obviously well-loved." He strokes a finger along the line of her jaw.

"I always wished I had a New Moon to go to as a kid. Some strict-but-kindly aunts to take me in and love me. Anyone, really, who loved me. It's silly."

"It's not." His hips cant into hers, pushing into her a little deeper. His dark eyes are warm and welcome, maple syrup over a stack of pancakes. The kind no one has ever made for her before. He traces his thumb at the corner of her lips. "It's not silly to want someone to love you, Rey."

Rey. Not omega. This isn't heat talk. It's real. And it scares her. So she shivers and hides in the hollow of his neck again.

* * *

"Your criminal record?" he asks the next time they're lucid. They're reclined against the back of the bed, Rey's back pressed against his chest. The baby maker is draped over their joined laps, a bundle of grapes resting in the hammock of fabric. Ben's arms are around her, popping the grapes off their stems and alternating between feeding her some and feeding himself.

"Sometimes I stole things. Sometimes I got in fights with other kids. One time I stole a car. I got sent to a young offender's institution for a while. My uncle came to pick me up when I got out. It was the first time he'd seen me in years. I was afraid of what he'd do, so I kicked him in the balls and ran away again immediately after getting out."

Ben's quiet for a while. She doesn't know what expression he's wearing, because she doesn't try to turn behind her to see. She just picks another grape out of his hand and crunches it between her teeth.

"I think I understand you now," he decides.

She snorts. "Do you?"

"You had to be an alpha to survive."

Rey frowns. She doesn't know what to do with this feeling when it isn't tied to begging him for a bite or a knot.

"I did what I had to do. I'll _always_ do what I have to do. Whatever it takes. Even if people don't like me very much. Even if I have to drown myself in suppressants until I don't even know who I am anymore. It's all part of the game of survival."

Her voice is cold. Ben's cock throbs inside her and she wonders what it means. He sets aside the grapes and bottle of water and wraps his arms around her, hugging her tight. She doesn't know why he feels he has to do this. But after a minute, her spine relaxes and she sinks into the hug, dropping her head back against his shoulder. It feels good. Not in a heat-related way. In a human way.

It's easy enough to sweep under the rug when he's got her on all fours a minute later, doing the things they don't have to think so much about.

Sometimes they talk about the things that might be part of the interview.

"I believe in psychics," she admits once when they're on their sides. He's the one hiding now, his body all folded over while he buries his face into the juncture of her shoulder. "Not in the ha-ha isn't that funny kind of way. I actually believe that kind of gift exists."

"I don't mess with anything occult," he rumbles against her.

"Superstitious?"

"A little 'stitious."

She laughs. "How can that be, growing up with the grandmother you have? She's into all kinds of witchy things."

He shudders. "I don't ask, and I pretend not to hear when she starts talking about it. What else? Tell me something else about you."

She thinks for a minute. It amuses her to think of her life outside this house, away from this alpha, free of this knot. That life doesn't exist for her right now. She doesn't want it to exist right now.

"I cry when people call me a heartless bitch," she decides. "It gets to me, even though I pretend it doesn't. Pryde too. When he called me that..."

"You're not a heartless bitch."

"You've probably called me that yourself, Ben."

"I was wrong."

"You only say that because you're in rut with an omega in heat to play with. You're balls deep inside me, you'd be an idiot to say anything different."

He rests his chin against her shoulder. "Fine. I'll tell you again when we're done."

"Fine." She knows he won't. Because nothing they say during any of this counts. She doesn't really want him to bite her, but she keeps asking for it because she can't stop herself. And he doesn't really think she's a good person, but he'll keep saying it because his body won't let him lose this opportunity to propagate his genetic material. Maybe he even thinks he believes it right now. She knows the illusion will shatter when this ends.

The nest is where she loves to fuck him best, but the kitchen is pretty good too. He sits her on the counter and has her that way. His rut is cooling. He is slower, more deliberate, exploring her body with his lips before penetrating her with his cock. He mumbles praise as he explores, taking a nipple into his mouth, saying something nonsensical about how in love he was when she went head to head with a bear for the sake of a dog. He says things like that sometimes. Things her omega hungrily drinks up, the nourishment it has always needed and never gotten. But they're things her sane, rational mind, lurking somewhere beneath the surface, dismisses as bullshit his rutting alpha brain is making him say. And the incongruence causes her anxiety. A feeling he always finds a way to soothe out of her with his body working inside her own.

Sometime into the third day, she finally works up the courage to ask him about his father.

There are long enough latent periods now that there's enough time for her quim to get rid of everything it can't hold. And it's a fucking _mess_. Ben is doing his best right now to clean her up with a wet towel, but it's a hopeless task when she's just starting to leak more slick in preparation for her next wave.

"What?" he asks distractedly, frowning at the smeary mess he's making against her thighs and the bed. "Fuck this is such a waste. It belongs inside you. Not on a towel."

"It's okay." She reaches for him, running her hand through his hair. "You'll give me more. I've had so much. It's okay."

He doesn't seem that mollified.

Rey switches back to her question, hoping it's enough of a distraction to soothe him. "Your dad. Tell me what's the deal with you two."

His attention flies up to her, horrified. "You want to talk about that _now_?"

"Why not? I told you my secret."

"You barely told me anything about that."

"I told you enough. What's going on with you two?"

"Sorry, no, next question. We're not touching that." He gives up, tossing the dirty rag aside, and slides down into bed next to her, handing her half a simple ham and cheese sandwich.

"Why not?"

"Because it's juvenile."

"Tell me anyway."

"It's just stupid alpha bullshit. He's overly controlling. I'm overly resentful. He wants me to quit my career and take over his business. I don't want that. It's not a complicated story. We've just never been good at communicating."

"You seem to do okay with your mother, and she's an alpha," Rey observes around a mouthful of sandwich.

"She's like me. She gets it. The need to get away. Plus she spent enough time dealing with people of all designations that she's much better at talking than my dad. I think she's maybe holding out hope for a solution that will suit everyone."

He's fidgeting. A dull pulsing between her legs tells Rey her body is ready for another dose of _a_ _lpha_ , but she's too interested in this to pay attention at the moment. Maybe that means her heat is waning. "A solution like what?"

"Like a grandchild who has an interest in fishing enterprises," he says distractedly.

Rey laughs. "That's quite the long-game strategy."

"Yeah." He runs a free hand over his cock. It's hard and ready to go. He shifts around uncomfortably again, wincing a little.

"You're lucky to have them," Rey sighs.

He puts his side of the sandwich on the nightstand and gets up, kneeling between her legs. "Yeah, I know. I love them, even when they get under my skin. Look, I know it's stupid but I'm...I'm having a really hard time with how much is coming out of you right now. I need to...do something about it."

She puts hers aside too, shimming down on the bed and reaching for him eagerly. "Fix the leak, Alpha. I want you to."

Ben groans. "My perfect little omega. Always ready for me."

And just like that, they slip right back into the haze.

The shower is a nice place to fuck too. They need to get clean, but Rey is still having frequent waves of need and can't last for the whole thing. He uses his mouth until she's a teary, desperate mess, and then knots her right there on the floor of the shower. The water slowly cools. They are thoroughly chilled by the time they can get out of there. When they do, she's on him immediately again, shoving him back down onto the bed and impaling herself on him eagerly. He lets her ride him like that for a moment before he flips them over and takes control. His cock jumps inside her as he pumps fresh streams of spend into her waiting womb, dirtying them up even more quickly than they were able to get clean.

And through it all, the lust and the clarity, the knotting and the talking, Rey keeps having this wistful, hungry feeling. For a bite. For something. For whatever will ensure that this never ends, because she's afraid of what she'll find on the other side of it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your comments, friends! I am notoriously terrible at replying to comments, but I promise I read them and love them.

It ends as quickly as it began.

One minute she's whimpering, being gently hushed by Ben as he works her through a last wave of need, and the next, she's waking up tangled to him but no longer knotted, skin crawling at how _gross_ she feels. Her thighs are sticky with their combined fluids. In fact, her skin is kind of tacky all over. Ben's rhythmic, sleeping breaths no longer lull her into safety. She's painfully, grotesquely aware.

And Rey can't wait to escape.

Her body aches and though her mind is cleared of its lusty fog, it's clouded by painful feelings and confusing thoughts. She needs to get away from Ben. It physically hurts to leave the bed while he's still asleep, and not just because of how sore she is between her legs. It hurts in her chest. There's a stab of pain there, a lonely longing that begs her to stay with him. To not leave alpha.

But he didn't bite her.

She's free to go.

She showers and thoroughly rids herself of their combined fluids, and their combined scents. She needs to figure out if the pharmacy here sells Omega Plan B and get it as quickly as possible because what they did, and the vastness of his contribution, is _definitely_ worrisome. It's what biology wants from them. What their bodies were trying to do these last four days. But it isn't her plan for her life, and now that she's thinking clearly, she needs to take care of it.

Four days.

The weekend and half the next week are gone. Three days of work, wasted. Did Mothma do the interview? Are Ben's authors okay with the switch? Is everything still on track?

She has no idea. The world hasn't existed outside this little guest house. Rey feels a little defeated, thinking of getting back into it now. This whole surreal experience has been a break from her life, and she should be ready to throw herself back into it and forget all the terribly personal things that have happened. But she isn't ready.

Real life is where she has to take care of herself. She has to fend off predators, fend off criticism, fend off assumptions. She has to fight for her place in the world. This pretend scenario here is where she gets to relax and be herself and let someone else share her burden.

She hates and craves pretend worlds. It's why she's always sought refuge in books, losing the ugliness of her daily existence for a while to adventure in another. But it makes the return sting more, and in this way she resents the escape as much as she longs for it.

This thing here with Ben in the guest house. It's no different.

He had set the laundry last night before falling asleep. As soon as he sensed her heat was nearly over, he deconstructed the nest and threw everything in the high-capacity washer and dryer. Rey is grateful now. When she gets out of the shower, the puts clean clothes on again and savors the feeling of being covered up at last. She's been naked and stuck on Ben for so long.

Speaking of the alpha in question. He's awake now. She can hear him moving around in the bedroom. Rey doesn't want to have any kind of conversation about what happened — she doesn't even want to think about it. Instead, she goes to the door and opens it to head out. She's not sure where. Maybe on a walk. Maybe to find a way to get back to the airport and get home to New York as quickly as possible where she'll grit her teeth and marry Ben without looking him in the eye and endure the interviews for her Visa, and then she'll beg Luke to transfer her to a different imprint because she's not sure she can ever face her former assistant again.

Not after she's been so thoroughly acquainted with his dick. Not after he's been so thoroughly versed on her secret tragic story.

But she can't go far, because as soon as she opens the door, she immediately spots Ben's whole family making their way towards them from the house. Han trundling alongside Leia, Chewie prancing ahead of him. Padme clips along next to her daughter.

Rey reels back inside and shuts the door quickly, praying they didn't see her.

"Ben," she hisses. So much for never facing him again. There's still a thousand necessary interactions before she can put this whole thing behind her. "Ben!"

He pokes his head from around the corner, and his eyes rake over her clothed form. Like he's still in it and doesn't remember that they're supposed to go back to being work acquaintances now. He frowns. "Going somewhere?"

"Apparently not, because your whole family is coming over right now."

"You showered." There's this furrow between his brow, and Rey's exasperation rises sharply because whatever he's feeling right now is not the appropriate level of mortification that this impromptu family reunion deserves.

"No shit, Sherlock," she says impatiently. "I suggest you do the same."

Not that he really has time. Maybe he's realized this too, because he doesn't bother. He goes to the dryer and ties a clean towel around his waist to spare his parents the sight of his grown alpha body, freshly fucked from a final gasp sometime around 3am. He's got red marks over his creamy skin, each one an indictment. There's no disguising what happened here — not that there ever was in the first place. Still, the evidence makes her burn with embarrassment.

Ben apparently feels none of that. He strolls casually across the room to grab a glass of water. Rey watches, emotions skittering all over the place. His cavalier attitude is strangely sexy, and absolutely infuriating. She _wants_ him still. Not in the way her omega understands.

She needs to get the hell out of here.

There's a knock at the door, and after a moment of pretending she wasn't standing there waiting, she opens it.

"Room service!" Padme says cheerfully, dark eyes illuminating. "Breakfast for the happy couple!"

"We assumed you'd be on the other side of it by now," Leia explains, half-apologetically. She's got a tray piled high with food. It all looks delicious, and after four days of barely nibbling on anything, Rey wants to eat it all.

She conjures a polite smile as Ben comes up behind her, slipping an arm around her waist and tugging her backwards like it's the most natural thing in the world for them to be all pressed up against each other like that. Maybe it is, because they have been. But Rey's heart skips erratically because of it.

"Come on in," he tells them. "I did the wash last night, so you should be safe."

The three of them move into the little bungalow. Han gives a conspicuous sniff as he passes. "Fuck, Ben, you didn't even have the decency to shower?"

"I was about to do that when you all showed up," he says smoothly.

"I trust the Baby Maker got some good use." Padme picks it up from where Ben had folded it after being in the dryer. She gives it a pat, like it's an old, trustworthy dog. "I'd like to be a great grandmother before I'm dead."

"Working on it," Ben says nonchalantly, letting Rey go as he wanders after his parents and starts picking things off his mother's tray.

Rey's face gets decidedly hot. What's gotten into him? Suddenly it's no longer this awkward act they're putting on? Because it still is for her. Whatever these last few days were, they exist as a weird biological island. They mean nothing. They were just an alpha and an omega helping each other through an unfortunate physical event, and anything that they said or did doesn't count.

"We got you cinnamon rolls, kiddo," Han says to her with a little smile. "You like cinnamon rolls?"

"Love them, yeah." Her mouth waters. She hasn't had cinnamon rolls since college. They taste too good. They make her scent spike. No use holding back now, though. When Han hands her one, heaped high with cream cheese icing, she takes it gratefully.

"So, let's see it!" Padme says eagerly, coming to Rey's side.

Rey's enjoying her cinnamon roll too much to pay attention. "See what?"

"The bite!"

At that, she recoils out of Padme's probing touch to her hair, almost dropping her food in the flinch. Ben coughs conspicuously around half a croissant.

Padme frowns. "You didn't bite her."

"Uh. No."

"What's wrong with you?" his grandmother demands, smacking him. "It was the perfect time! The _right_ time!"

Han gives his son a confused look too. "Something the matter? Some reason why you wouldn't?"

"We haven't made the vows." Ben waves a dismissive hand and focuses back on his food.

"Oh, Benji," Leia sighs. "But you're _going to_ , that's the point. In fact, that's what we came here to talk to you about."

"Yeah well we formulated this plan when we thought our son was alpha enough to claim his mate when she was ready for it," Han grumbles. "The hell is wrong with him?"

"What plan?" Rey asks faintly, before that furious look on Ben's face can lead to an altercation between father and son. Tensions are rising. Her omega can feel it, and it agitates her. She has the horribly irrational urge to go lick Ben's glands until he calms back down.

"Well," Leia begins, and she sounds a little apologetic. "We really were expecting that you guys would have done the whole claiming thing first. That would make this plan make more sense. But anyway. Han and I were talking and... unless you had other dreams, we'd love it if you got married here. This weekend."

"This weekend!" Padme agrees, eyes sparkling excitedly.

Ben chokes on his croissant.

"What?" Rey balks.

"Well, you're going to get married anyway," Leia explains. "And Ben told us you don't have any family. You guys have already lost half the week, so I talked to Luke and he said it was okay for you to take the rest of the week off. _And_ he said he'll even come home for the wedding — isn't that amazing? It's been so long since I've been able to convince him to come back."

"And we can take care of the marriage license and all that shit online," Han adds.

"And that way we don't have to travel when you do it. Then Grams can be a part of it," Leia finishes.

"But," Rey scrambles. She needs to think. She needs space to reevaluate everything, because the last four days — "Don't you need time to get everything ready? I wouldn't do that to you."

"No, no," Leia says quickly, "Actually we postponed Mom's birthday to this weekend anyway when you went into heat, dear, so we already have a party in the plans. Just a few adjustments will make it perfect for a wedding."

"No," Ben starts, "No. I don't want to eclipse Grams' birthday."

"I've had 89 birthday parties, Benjamin, I don't need another one," says Padme. "It's my dream to see my one grandchild's wedding."

"See? It all works out nicely," says Leia.

"Do it for your grandmother," Han tells his son.

"Will you?" Padme asks.

Rey closes her eyes briefly, exasperated beyond all measure. Is _nothing_ about this trip going to go as planned? When she opens her eyes again, Ben is looking at her. She can't interpret the expression on his face.

"Before I'm dead?" Padme adds, prodding.

"—Okay," Rey and Ben say in hasty unison. They glance at each other.

They'll get married. They were going to do it anyway for the green card. This just gets it done sooner. It's not like it's that hard to trade one sham wedding for another. But it is, a little, because what they're talking about isn't a private little courthouse thing. Rey didn't want a whole affair. She didn't want it to feel real. What they want is definitely something real.

But this will serve to further convince Krennic that they're serious about each other, at least. So...yeah. They should do it.

Leia looks immediately relieved. "We'll do everything, don't even worry. You can get married in the barn, like we did."

"It's a tradition!" Padme says, clapping excitedly. "That's where Ani and I got married too."

She hugs Rey tightly. Rey sets the rest of her cinnamon roll down and half-heartedly returns the hug. "Wow, that sounds...romantic."

"It's all happening so perfectly," the old woman says with bubbly joy. "I can't believe it. I can't believe Ben found his match. You two are absolutely _made_ for each other. It's destiny. I'm going to go do a gratitude ritual. Come on, Leia."

Leia gives Rey a quick hug and tells Ben he doesn't get one until he's cleaned up. "I'm thrilled," she says happily. "Thank you for letting us do this."

"Sure," Rey says with a half-hearted smile.

Han is the last out the door. He gives them both this strange look before shrugging and following his wife and mother-in-law out.

It's silent for a few seconds after the click of the door closing. Rey chews her lip and glances back at Ben. He rubs a hand over his face and sighs.

"Well, fuck," he sighs. "That wasn't how I thought this morning would go."

Rey almost asks what he thought would happen, but she swallows it back because, honestly, she isn't sure she really wants to know. They were naked and stuck to each other just hours ago, and here she is, second guessing every thought that passes through her mind because she doesn't trust any of it.

This should be the part where the pretending ends, but it just goes on and on, and now, with his family, it must go on longer still. It's like dragging around the corpse of this lie, and she just wants to set it down and try to figure out why her whole world feels sideways now.

At least between them they can stop pretending, right? The weird limbo of these last few days is over.

He glances at her, and she can feel his stare. The alpha to whom she offered _everything_. And she should be so grateful he retained enough wits about him to refrain, but it still tastes bitter on her tongue. It tastes like rejection.

"You're freaking out," he assesses.

She nods.

He sighs. "I suppose it was too much to hope for."

Rey frowns. "What was?"

"Nothing." He sits down by the table of food and picks at a cinnamon roll. "Fuck Luke."

It's an abrupt change of subject, but she'll take it. "Yeah, fuck him. What's his deal? Offering to come home for that shit."

"I'm sure he's delighted," Ben sighs. "The asshole has no idea how much its going to destroy my grandmother when it turns out to be a hoax. He just enjoys playing his little games with us."

Rey doesn't really know how to be close to him physically right now. He still smells like _them_ , unshowered as he is, and her awkwardness locks her limbs up tight. But she forces herself to join him at the table, lowering herself slowly into a seat across from him. She swallows. "Destroy your grandmother?"

"Things are going to be complicated from here on out," he explains, and for the first time this morning, Rey thinks she detects a hint of regret. "They'll marry us this weekend, and we'll go through the whole thing with Krennic. It takes a while. Maybe long enough to happen upon your scheduled heat. And since we'll be married, he'll wonder why I don't just claim you. It'll be more suspicious that I don't, after that stuff I told him about waiting. This impromptu wedding thing. I don't know what the hell that is about, but it throws our whole plan into chaos."

Rey puts her head into her hands and closes her eyes.

"You said it would destroy your grandmother," she says tiredly, because she doesn't know what else to address, and that offhand comment makes her more anxious than anything else for some reason.

Ben is silent for a moment, like he's trying to decide if he should say it. Then, "She likes you. She's happy for us. She's convinced it's fate. It will devastate her to see it collapse."

Rey shudders.

His voice is soft. "Did you think our lie wouldn't have consequences?"

"Yes," she says honestly, lifting her head. "It was one thing in New York, when it was just business. When it was just us, nobody else. But now your fucking _grandmother_ is invested in this. And your mother, and your father."

"I'm aware," he says. His attention falls to the table top. "It's messy now."

But messy doesn't matter. Rey can do messy. She just needs to get a hold of herself. Her inner omega came roaring to life for a time, but her season is spent, and Rey needs to put her away and get control of this ridiculously out of control situation. Ben's family will survive. They might hate her, but they won't die. She steels herself.

"It'll be fine," she says coolly. "We'll get my attorney to push Krennic to expedite the process. We'll figure this out."

Ben doesn't say anything, just watches her with an expression that seems to cut right through her bullshit.

Rey's pretty sure she's mostly trying to convince herself by this point. He seems perfectly aware of the consequences, and willing to endure them anyway. "We've learned what happens when we mess around with healthy boundaries. It won't happen again. No more scenting. And we'll be divorced before my next heat, so it won't be an issue."

His brow arches. "It won't?"

"No."

She finishes her cinnamon roll and gulps down a glass of orange juice while Ben leans back in his chair and observes her calmly for a moment. He's still mostly naked, and maybe there's the tiniest trace of heat left in her because Rey's body fights her with a flicker of interest. Her heat was intense and muddled, but she remembers too much of it. Not like usual, where it's all lost in pain. She remembers how insanely _good_ it all felt. He felt. His cock felt. She won't trace the marked up lines of his chest with her eyes and indulge in those memories. She won't.

There's something possessive in his stare. His eyes are not all syrupy sweet. They're hard, and honest, and heated.

"It'll be an issue for me."

His voice is much the same. Dark and serious. She shivers. "What will be?"

"Your next heat."

She blushes and looks back at the food. "Why? You don't have to go through it. I do."

"Exactly." He leans forward, voice intense. "You going through it alone again. That's a problem for me."

Rey flinches, bristles, bites back a sudden flash of anger that he doesn't get to feel any ownership over her heats because he didn't answer her requests to make all her future heats his responsibility. He doesn't _want_ her to be his, so he doesn't get to assume a part of her most unpleasant days down the road.

"You were only invited to this one out of necessity, Solo, don't get ahead of yourself."

"Then I'll have to find a way to contrive necessity again."

"Why?" she challenges. Some exultant voice inside her is celebrating this tiny crumb of an offering that maybe, just maybe, Alpha _does_ want her. But she's confused, because he clearly doesn't, and she doesn't even know what _she_ wants. So she needs him to spell this all out.

Ben doesn't seem the least bit confused. "Now that I've seen you through this one, I have this urgency to make sure you're taken care of for every other after. I hate the thought of you suffering."

"That's hormones. It's your alpha instincts, nothing more. Pretty sure it'll happen again if you ever see another omega through heat." _NO_ , her head screams. _No other omegas._ "It'll fade when your hormones settle back down."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Well then I guess that's your problem," she snaps, harshly because all she really wants to do is seize him by that stupid towel and demand to know what the hell is happening right now. "Don't worry, I'll make it easy for you. I push people away. It's what I'm good at. I'll do it to you too."

"You haven't been able to push me away yet," he says.

This is too much. Rey needs to escape. From him, from this place that smells like them, from this whole stupid conversation that does nothing but mess with her head. She tucks some hair behind her ears and stands up.

"You smell. Take a shower. I'm going for a run."

"A run," he scoffs. "Feeling like you need some exercise after all that physical exertion?"

She fights the blush heating in her cheeks and ignores him, heading to the door. She can feel his eyes on her as she steps out into the brisk morning, shivering once against the pleasant chill of the air. Well fuck him. He can stare all he wants. His mood will inevitably shift because none of this is _real_. It's all stupid biology messing with them.

* * *

Rey hasn't run since she left her apartment. It feels good to jog, even better when Chewie finds her and barks happily until she motions for him to come. He lopes alongside her as she discovers a little trail leading into the woods. She's not afraid of running into a bear with Chewie now. Besides, Han made it sound like it didn't happen that often.

Running is _good_. The burn in her lungs makes her feel fresh and awake and alive. Not like the hazy lust of the last few days. The pull of her muscles makes her feel strong. Not like the way she feels when Ben looks at her a certain way. Weak and mushy.

_Ben_. Ugh. Her mild, amenable assistant, suddenly the most alpha alpha she's ever known. She doesn't even want him to claim her. Of course she doesn't. That's insanity. It's ludicrous. They can't be mates. They can barely stand each other for a weekend, and half of that was probably tricks of the mind from a breakthrough heat sneaking up on them. They aren't _perfect matches_ or whatever nonsense the locals believe. They're completely ordinary biological creatures reacting to each other in a completely ordinary biological way.

But then why does she feel so much burning resentment that he didn't do it? She _knows_ she should be grateful. Either his restraint was incredible, or he really doesn't want her, because any lesser alpha would have bitten the moment his omega asked. Maybe even before. Rey is mortified that she did ask, when she was trying so hard not to. Of course she's glad he didn't. But she can't make that relief and gladness sink all the way down to her sated but unsettled omega instincts.

They are becoming well acquainted with each other now, Rey and her instincts. She's never spent this much time in battle with herself. She was always too suppressed before. Part of her wants to suppress it all that much again. Another part of her feels like she can breathe for the first time in a long time, and she doesn't want to go back into a cage.

Rey pushes herself harder, unable to outpace the thoughts that tumble restlessly around her head.

When had this all gotten so off track? This is _just business_. That's it. Just a business deal. Just a run of the mill government scam for a green card. It's not complicated. It's not personal. It's a highly unethical transaction between herself and an employee, assistance with her fraud in exchange for a huge promotion. _Feelings_ have no place in any of it. Whatever is happening right now needs to stop. The voice of her omega quietly urging her to go back and find alpha and make everything better? That voice needs to shut the hell up.

Everything was going relatively fine until that stupid breakthrough heat. Awkward, perhaps, but fine.

Chewie barks, startling her out of her thoughts and her steady pace. He races ahead, tail wagging joyously. Probably not a threat, she thinks. A moment later, she hears it too. A rhythmic thumping echoing through the forest, like a drum. Her step falters and she pauses, catching her breath, listening with increasing confusion.

"What is that?" she mutters under her breath. What other ungodly curveball is this place going to throw at her? At this point, she's braced for anything. Male strippers, foursome alpha-omega polycules, breakthrough heats, possessive former assistants. Anything.

The drumming sounds nearby, but she's lost Chewie, so she keeps going a little further, walking in the direction he'd gone. After a while a flash of color in the woods catches her eye, and she veers off the trail, peering down a little embankment to see Padme toddling about in a long crochet cardigan, a brilliant yellow mandala on her back, trailing rainbow sleeves. She's setting things on a sort of table made out of big stones. There's a flicker of flame, and Rey sees two candles burning on the...well, the altar, for lack of a better word.

Padme's voice lances through the air. "Join me."

Chills race up Rey's arms and she looks around with wide eyes, half expecting some supernatural presence to leap out of the air. Is she talking to dead relatives? Unseen spirits? Suddenly Rey understands why Ben is spooked by paranormal stuff.

"Rey of New York, granddaughter," Padme chimes, and the shape of her words makes Rey think she's laughing a little. "I see you. Come down."

She peeks through the branches again and sees that yes, Padme is looking at her. She winces, climbs through the bushes, and emerges at the top of the embankment. "Hi, sorry, I was just out for a run. I didn't mean to interrupt. I'm so sorry."

"It's nothing. Come down. Come celebrate with me."

"Oh...uh...about that. Yeah. I'm sorry we missed your birthday." Whatever is happening here, Rey doesn't need to be part of it.

"You are curious," Padme presses. "That's natural. Come help me give thanks to the universe."

"I'm not really that curious, honestly. Um, just tell it thanks for me, will you?"

"Alpha and Omega," Padme intones. "The end and the beginning. Do you know why we say it like that?"

Rey fidgets. She wants to bolt. But she also doesn't want to be rude to this woman who has been nothing but kind to her, if a bit...enthusiastic, sometimes. "I've actually never heard that before. I have no idea."

"Come and I'll teach you."

She sighs. There's no getting out of this, she supposes. Or, she could. In fact, she really shouldn't be trying that hard to stay in the good graces of this woman, since she's going to earn her wrath the minute Rey divorces Padme's grandson. But that's only later, and right now, she doesn't want to stir up more drama than already exists.

She scoots down the embankment gingerly, asking herself again and again why she keeps putting herself into situations designed to make her uncomfortable. Her life was uncomplicated before that meeting with Luke and Mara.

Padme is remarkably fit for a woman of ninety. She comes to the bottom of the hill and seizes Rey's arm the minute she's down, dragging her towards the altar.

"The universe, Rey, is all about balance," she explains sagely.

Oh, okay, they're starting without any preamble here.

Padme doesn't let her go when she stops at the altar. It's littered with little crystals and talismans. She points with her free hand to the candles. "There is darkness and light. Pain and pleasure."

Rey nods politely.

"Male and female. Sky and earth. This balance is all around us, always in flux. A give and a take." Padme looks up at her with a wink. "Sex, you could say. The universe is always in a state of coital push and pull."

How long as it been since this woman got laid? Has she been celibate since her mate died? Rey really wonders. Padme is always ready to joke about sex at the drop of a hat. She doesn't seem to need any kind of sensible segue.

"And in its final, crowning act of creation, the universe begat Alpha and Omega. The Alpha is the end. The death of what came before. The end of loneliness. The end of searching. The end of fighting alone. And the Omega is the beginning. The life that is to come. The beginning of balance. The beginning of unity. The beginning of wholeness. One without the other is incomplete. That is why they are always in search of one another."

Rey chews her lip. On the one hand, this sounds like a lot of old school designationist bullshit about how omegas can't be happy without an alpha, the kind of rhetoric used to hold them back for centuries. But Padme fought that for her entire career. She wouldn't be saying it now if it didn't hold some deeper meaning for her. And somewhere inside Rey, her own instincts stir with longing.

"I see you doubt," Padme observes. "I understand. I did too. Wholeness is not the same thing as happiness, Rey. And an omega may indeed live a happy, full life without the balancing half. But an alpha is her destiny. Not a chain to drag her down, a gift to reward her for strength. An omega who takes an alpha is staking her claim in the universe, seizing balance for herself in an act of defiance against the oppositional force that would see her struggle on alone. Anakin did not weaken me, Rey. Together we did more than either of us could have done alone."

Rey waits for Padme to get to her point, feeling itchy all over again.

"You will discover this too, when you are finally mated to Ben. You've done the hard part. You've found your balance. Now you only have to be open enough to receive it."

Rey winces. "Is this about the bite thing? Because that...that wasn't really my call."

"You asked," Padme says knowingly.

Rey doesn't reply. She assumes it's normal for an omega to ask for that in the throes of her heat. She's even seen it in some amateur heat porn. She has no reason to be ashamed that she did ask, except that it galls her to know she'd lost so much control over herself with another person to witness. So she isn't going to give Padme the confirmation of it now.

"All things will come to pass as they should," the old woman decides. "I am here giving thanks to the universe that you've come together. I'm asking that your loins be fertile, and for your souls to align so that you both feel ready to make the commitment. Join me."

Rey starts to shake her head, because no, she doesn't want to do any of that, but Padme is already tugging her from the altar and showing her how to step to the beat of the drums.

"Feel the rhythm of the universe," she urges, pointing to her feet. "Feel the threads that bind all life together. You are a goddess, Rey. A being of creation. You are an _omega_. There's no more powerful entity in all the cosmos. All life thrives in you."

It's silly and corny and she feels oh so ridiculous, but that feeling inside her _does_ stir again. That longing swells into pride and realization. She follows Padme in a rhythmic little shimmy around the altar. The words percolate through her like ripples over still water. Why has she always hated her designation? Why as she always questioned her power? She's been ashamed. Since those early days when Uncle Plutt threatened to sell her body to the highest bidder, she's hated what she is. She's hidden it. Buried under suppressants. Under a bitchy personality. Under armor so thick, it took molten heat and a determined alpha hand to pry it a little bit open. And it sucks, not loving the capable, powerful woman she is. It hurts. She's _so sick_ of hiding.

"Scream, Rey," Padme urges, as if sensing the ball of frustration that burns in her chest.

So Rey does.

They're out in the middle of the woods. There's only Padme and the old Malamute dog sniffing around the trees to hear. She opens her mouth and pours all the anguish of her self-hatred into that primal scream. No. More. Hiding. She _is_ an omega. She belongs in her own skin, and she belongs in the family of living things. She's not a mistake. She's not something to be picked up when it's convenient and then set aside again. She _matters_. She doesn't have to be an alpha to stake her claim in the world.

The scream flies up into the trees, lost to the wide open Alaskan sky.

And when it's out of her, Rey feels lighter. She laughs, exhilarated.

Padme laughs too. "Wonderful! Now chant something!"

"Chant what?"

"Anything! Whatever comes into your head!" She laughs again, flapping her hands in an encouraging motion. They're still stomping around the altar. "Chant anything. Let's have some fun!"

Well, that sparks something, at least.

Rey huffs, a little embarrassed still but too elated to care. "Fun huh? Okay. Okay. Let's have some fun, this beat is sick, and you can take a ride on this slide of slick."

It's maybe a little too dirty for Padme's old school sensitivities, but she said anything, didn't she?

Padme looks a little startled, but grins a moment later and nods, following Rey around the altar as they march around again and she takes up the song.

"I wanna kiss you, but if I do then I might miss you, babe. It's complicated and stupid, got my ass squeezed by alpha Cupid. Guess he wants to play, wants to play a love game, a love game."

"Sing it louder!" Padme giggles.

Rey does, voice rising as she chants the chorus about beats and slick and she and Padme start really dancing now. The old woman is limber. She echoes Rey in a kind of call and response game with the lyrics.

Just when she's crudely chanting about some heavy petting, they hear a low voice clearing his throat and both jump, startled right out of their impromptu dance off. Padme clicks off the CD player with the drum track.

Ben is there, staring at them with a wide-eyed, amused expression. Rey is surprised she didn't catch his scent before he found them. But then, she's spent four days drowning in it, maybe her brain interprets it as natural and expected now.

"What are you doing?" he asks, brow lifting.

He looks clean. He definitely showered. The final vestiges of their shared bodies washed down the drain. It gives her a funny pang of disappointment, even though she's definitely the one that told him to get clean.

"Celebrating balance, Benji," Padme laughs.

"By singing an O.M. Gaga song?"

Rey blushes. "Your grandma wanted me to chant. You know. Something rhythmic."

Padme nods enthusiastically. "To honor her omegahood!"

" _Slide of slick_?" Ben lifts a brow, the corner of his mouth twitching up into a little smirk. "Heavy petting?"

"Uh...yeah...you know…" Rey trails off, warmth rising in her cheeks again. She fights back awkward laughter. "You just wandering the woods now?"

"I heard a scream and came to check on you. I assume you're okay?"

"Yep, all good here," she shifts her weight from foot to foot, antsy with the chagrin of being caught.

He nods, apparently satisfied. "Your new phone arrived while we were indisposed, by the way. I'm going into town to grab it. Do you want to come?"

"Yes!" She practically vaults over the altar in her haste. "Yes, I want to go. Oh, wait. Uh, Grams, is it okay?"

Padme grins. "For you to go?"

"Yeah I don't...I don't want to be disrespectful and leave the ritual half done or whatever."

"It's fine!" She laughs. "Go do what your heart tells you."

Rey contemplates giving her a hug, grateful for this weird little cathartic experience in the woods. But she doesn't. She just smiles a genuinely, grateful sort of smile instead and then heels after Ben as he turns to leave.

"Have fun?" he asks mildly.

"Actually, yeah."

"Good." He pauses and glances sideways at her with that funny smirk again. "Didn't know you were such a freak for dirty songs. Or for corrupting my grandmother with lyrics about slick."

She shoves his shoulder. "Shut up."


	10. Chapter 10

They take the boat into Theed.

Rey isn't as nervous being aboard this time around. She sits in the front passenger seat beside Ben and watches the water. It's impossible to deny it now. His presence comforts her. She feels safe with him at the helm, even out on the rolling ocean. He's competent, like he is in most areas, and what was once purely professional trust has now grown into a deeper, more personal trust. With caveats, of course, because it's still hard to know what is the lingering afterglow of their shared heat and what is just blurred boundaries. Still, it's nice to be with him. She'll let herself acknowledge that much, especially after releasing some of her defenses into the ether with Padme.

They moor the boat at the same slip it had been at when they arrived. After a quick climb up, it's a short walk to the store. It's one of those that has _Amidala_ scrawled across the front in big letters, right above 'General Store.' The sign looks old, like maybe in the fifties someone decided to put a brand new, modern and chic sign on their old shop dating back to the foundation of the town, but nobody has bothered to update it since. Rey eyes it before they pass beneath.

"So your grandma really is like some Alaskan princess, isn't she?"

"More like a queen," Ben snorts. "Everyone around here treats her like one, at least. Her word is practically law."

Rey loves that. The power of an omega like Padme swaying the entire population of an island with her word — it's inspirational. She smiles a little to herself as they head inside.

The store is quaint. It's got groceries and basic hardware, a corner of simple apparel, toys for kids, books (almost exclusively Dagobah titles, Rey notes with some interest) and a few limited electronics. There's an attached coffee corner with a cute barista girl hanging out on her phone, and a couple of tables with chess boards on them. There's also a door that reads _Alterations by Padme_.

"Hey, buddy," says the guy behind the register, and Rey jerks her head towards him because it's _Poe_. Fully dressed now, just sitting there all normal like he doesn't entertain the horny ladies of Theed in his spare time. He gives her a grin and a wink.

"Poe," Ben says mildly when they get to the front counter. Rey scoots a little closer to him. He glances behind Poe where a doorway leads to an employee area. Rey follows his attention to see a familiar red head lounging on a couch in the back. "Hey, Hux."

The ginger jolts upright and scrambles to his feet, grinning like an idiot. "Solo. Good to see you out in public again. We heard there was some excitement up at the house."

Rey blushes. Ben frowns. "How did you hear that?"

"I mean, nobody _specifically_ said you had a heat situation on your hands," Hux laughs. "But when your grandmother's huge birthday bash got postponed…"

"And the way your omega smelled...and also your phone arrived," Poe adds. "I called the house to let them know and they told me you wouldn't be able to pick it up for a few days…"

The two men exchanged a glance. Hux finishes for them. "We figured it out. But why the fuck would you travel that close to heat?"

He looks at Rey for the answer. Normally she would bristle at any mention of her heat, even by this male omega who definitely understands what it's like, but this time she just shrugs and looks away.

"It wasn't supposed to happen for another few months."

Poe's eyes nearly pop out of his head. "You had a breakthrough?!"

"No way," Hux laughs incredulously. "Not with how suppressed you smelled. Like chemicals and Ben, that's it. You probably have your heats timed down to the exact day."

"You didn't smell her the day after the party though, Hux. She didn't smell like chemicals. She smelled...amazing." Poe's voice is a low purr as he leans forward, his shock quickly transforming into a wolffish grin. "Was it me? Was it our little dance that triggered your heat?"

Ben reaches over the counter and pushes Poe's face away with his whole huge hand. "Back off, clown. Leave her alone. Of course it wasn't you, you oversexed piece of shit."

Hux laughs, and he and Poe exchange this private glance again. Rey wonders if Hux shares Zorri's cavalier attitude about Poe flirting with other omegas. He doesn't seem that territorial either. It confuses her. Shouldn't their instincts be going haywire? Hers certainly are, and she's not even really _with_ Ben.

Poe smirks. "Breakthrough heats are pretty rare these days, with the whole world so suppressed. It means something, buddy. If it wasn't me who triggered it, then it was you. And you know what they say about breakthroughs."

"Just get us the damn phone," Ben grumbles.

Rey looks to Hux while Poe chuckles and moves off somewhere behind the counter, grabbing a box off a shelf. "What do they say?"

Hux grins. "Breakthroughs only happen to compatible couples. _Highly_ compatible. You might even say...perfect."

The little groan of exasperation escapes her before she can catch it. "That's blatantly untrue. Any alpha not on blockers could trigger an omega."

Hux makes this little tsk'ing sound and shakes his head. "But Ben _is_ on blockers. Deny it all you want, little city slicker, but your scent doesn't lie. You're a different person from before. You smell happy."

"What are you doing here anyway?" Ben demands of him. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

Hux shrugs. "Came to hang out for a bit because Poe said you were gonna stop by today. Things are slow right now. A lot of estate stuff. Nothing too exciting."

Poe sets the box down and opens it up. "Here we go. I followed your instructions for setting it up with her carrier. We were able to import her contacts from the cloud. It's all charged up and ready to go."

"Good," says Ben. He takes the phone from Poe and flicks through it, checking her contacts and setting up her email with an efficiency that makes Rey feel wistful. He knows everything about her. He's been the most competent assistant anyone could ask for. She's sad to lose him, as her right hand professionally now, and later when their fake marriage falls apart and she inevitably tries to change departments to avoid him.

When he's satisfied, he hands it over to her and wanders off down one of the aisles. Hux hops over the counter to follow him.

"So how awkward was it, taking care of her with your parents around?"

"We used the guest house."

Rey opens her email and immediately grimaces at the stack of unreads sitting pretty in her inbox. Poe leans forward again, elbows on the counter, chin in his hands with a coy sort of smile.

"So, tell me, how's Ben at the whole heat management gig? Is he a... _good alpha?_ "

"Why don't I ask Zorri or Hux if you're a _good alpha_?" she tosses back, assessing which of her emails is most urgent. "I mean, I've already heard that Gwen is great."

"Oof, Ben, your lady bites," Poe calls over to them.

"I know," Ben replies. "You probably deserved it."

Rey presses play on the first of her thirty-seven voicemails, holding the phone up to her ear. Poe takes the hint and stops trying to engage her in conversation. A few seconds later, Ben returns with a couple of snacks. Poe rings him up and then voids the charge. Perks of being the grandson of the town queen, Rey assumes.

"Any fires?" Ben asks, handing her a package of peanut butter cups. Her favorite. He waves goodbye to his friends and steers her towards the door with a hand at the small of her back. Feels nice.

"No, thankfully. Luke went with Mothma and she did the interview."

"That's great. See? It's okay for you to take a vacation once in a while. The world didn't end."

She shoots him a sharp look, quickly becoming distracted by the little grin on his face and the way he pops some bite of his own candy between those lips she now knows quite intimately. Lips that can work magic on her body. "What are you eating?"

"Acaí berries, dried and covered in dark chocolate," he replies.

"First of all, how do you get acaí berries in Alaska? And second of all, _dark_ chocolate?"

He chuckles. "Okay, information for the interview: I love dark chocolate. The darker the better. I like it to be a bit bitter."

Rey grimaces. "Do you even love yourself at all? Why would you voluntarily choose to eat that?"

"We don't all have the junk food preferences of a twelve year old."

"Peanut butter cups are perfectly acceptable grown-up snacks."

"The fact that you said 'grown-up' instead of adult proves that you are, in fact, still twelve years old. My position holds."

"You have the junk food preferences of an eighty year old man," she says, and there's a bubbly feeling in her chest. She laughs.

Ben glances at her and smiles. It's so rare to see him smile that for a moment it catches her off guard. She's seen his polite business smiles a million times, but this one, big and pleased and genuine, it makes that fizzy sensation in her chest stronger.

"It's a problematic age difference," he decides.

"The worst," she agrees.

"If we were a book, Twitter would cancel us."

She laughs again, and they fall into a kind of comfortable, companionable silence. Ben's scent is rich and warm and familiar, like a hug. She basks in it and doesn't let herself get all tangled up again about what it means that she likes it so much.

They're not really going anywhere, she realizes. Just walking. Theed's kitschy little main street is a little less populated than it was when Leia and Padme brought her over the weekend. Only a few people wander around. Rey can see why folks like Han and Zorri love this place. It's cute, and quiet. It feels welcoming and home-y in a way New York never could.

"Did you catch Hux's scent?" Ben asks after a few minutes.

Rey should probably be answering emails or returning calls, but it's hard to feel any sense of urgency about that right now. Ben's right. The place didn't burn down without her. Maybe it's okay to give herself this little break right now.

"I wasn't paying much attention to it."

"He smelled like Poe." Ben pauses in thought and then adds, "Does every omega in Theed smell like Poe?"

Rey grins. "If they frequent that strip club, then yeah, they do."

"Zorri, Hux, you." He sighs, shakes his head. "Poe always could get them all."

"Uh, no, he can't. He couldn't get me. The only reason I smelled like him was your mom and grandmother dragging me to that infernal place. Trust me, I was three seconds away from bursting into tears. He's _not_ my alpha. Zorri and Hux can have him."

This rumbly sound moves through Ben's chest, reminding her of their naked collision and that sound he made right before he went feral on her gland. "He really should know better than to put his pheromones all over someone else's omega."

Rey glances at him. He seems to register what he said because he shoots her a quick look and amends, "Or at least, a woman he thought was someone else's."

"Right," she says softly.

"Right." He pops another chocolate berry into his mouth and returns his attention to the street.

They fall silent again for a while. It occurs to her that she really must be losing it, if she experienced a thrill at being referred to as _his_ , instead of anger that anyone had the audacity to use possessive language like that about her. She's never had the crazy desires of heat linger for so long after it ends. This instinct telling her to do anything to keep him, claim him and be claimed by him, be his. It's disconcerting. Then again, she's never had an alpha see her through a heat before. Maybe it's normal. She doesn't really have anyone to ask. If she had the opportunity to hang out with Rose or Zorri again, maybe. Zorri never shared a heat with Ben, which relieves her, but she wonders what it's like after she's shared one with Poe or Gwen.

Zorri. Thinking of the other omega gives her a little twinge of discomfort. She's still never brought the subject up with Ben, fearful of what he might say about it. But right now she feels...okay. Brave enough. And so she ventures the topic after a few quiet minutes. "So...you and Zorri, huh?"

Ben glances at her. If he's surprised, his face doesn't show it. He just looks curious. "Yeah. Me and Zorri."

"She's...really beautiful."

"Yeah, she is."

Zorri made it sound like she and Ben are well past whatever feelings they might have had before. But does Ben feel the same way? Does he still harbor some seedling love for her? It makes Rey's instincts _rage_ with jealousy, but presses anyway, because she has to know.

"She told me a little about you guys."

Ben nods, gaze falling to the sidewalk in front of them. "It wasn't the right fit. I didn't know it for a long time, but it started to make sense after a while. Actually, it makes even more sense now. It didn't feel like... We never reacted to each other the way that…"

He seems to be struggling with his words, but before he can figure out what he wants to say, two cheerful voices cut through their walk and make them spin around.

"Ben! Rey! We found you!"

Leia and Padme. Together like always, _everywhere_ like always. And though Rey is coming to appreciate them, she really needs to finish this conversation where Ben is about to reassure her struggling, inappropriate instincts that he really is over Zorri.

"Mom," Ben sighs when they catch up. "Grams. Are we not allowed to go a day without seeing you?"

"You just had four days without seeing us," Padme says, eyebrows waggling.

Leia laughs. "And you'll have an infinite number more when you two go back to New York. We only get you for a little while. And anyway, you're free to go. We only want Rey."

"Oh," says Rey, startled. "Why?"

"We're stealing you away," Padme says, linking her arm through Rey's, the way she likes. She shoos Ben aside with a wave of her hand. "Off with you, sir."

"Oh, no, actually I need to get some things taken care of—" Rey tries to protest, but Leia hooks onto her other side and then the two women swiftly pull her away. She wrenches around to glance back at Ben, standing there wearing a baffled and amused expression.

"Don't worry," Padme assures her. "No strippers, no rituals in the woods, I promise."

Leia glances behind them too. "It's bride stuff, Ben, you'd hate it. Just find somewhere to hang out."

"I'll be at the boat," he calls back.

Rey stumbles along, tugged by the two women, tripping over her own feet. "Are these shoes okay for what we're going to do?"

Padme laughs. "You won't need shoes."

* * *

_Breathe._

_Just fucking breathe._

Rey repeats this to herself as she works the last few buttons, crowded into a tiny little changing room in the corner of Padme's alteration shop, carpeted walls, green velvet curtain shielding herself from Leia and Padme waiting just on the other side. The satiny fabric of the dress slips against her skin, whispering in the confined space with every movement she makes.

Without the reminder, she might stop breathing altogether because things are happening here which she was not prepared to handle, today or any day. It was supposed to be a courthouse. Maybe during a lunch break from work. She'd wear the sensible black dress she always wore to formal functions, and then she'd change back into her suit to go to work. Because it was a business transaction. That's all.

"This is so exciting," Padme gushes from the other side. "I can't believe it's really happening, Sweetie. Your little boy all grown up. A wonderful girl like Rey coming into the family. It's incredible."

"My little Benji," Leia agrees wistfully. "I'm so happy for him."

Rey tries to tune them out, her heart hammering at breakneck pace in her chest. There isn't a mirror in this tiny space, so she has no idea what it looks like, but she can _feel_ the weight of it on her body, heavier than strictly fabric.

Padme's voice lifts a little, clearly addressing Rey now. "My mother made that dress by hand in 1929. In this very shop. Isn't it beautiful?"

Rey doesn't reply because she doesn't actually know. Her fingers tremble as she does the final button and adjusts the fitted bodice around herself.

"Don't worry about the fit at all," says Leia. "My mother is a fantastic tailor."

Rey closes her eyes and gives herself a single moment to draw a deep breath. It feels like the last she'll ever take because she's going to walk out there in front of these women and there will be a mirror and she will see herself in a fucking _wedding dress_ , and no, she isn't quite ready for it.

Steeling herself, she draws the curtain aside and steps out.

Padme and Leia both gasp appreciatively.

"Rey," Leia says, "you look beautiful."

Overwhelmed, Rey fusses with the bodice again. "It's a little loose up top, I think."

Padme's smile is wide and pleased. Still, she steps forward and assesses the ivory cups beneath an expanse of lace. They're standing out from Rey's chest, unfilled.

"My mother was small, like you. I had to make it bigger when I wore it. I'm more chesty to start with, and I happened to be knocked up with the twins when I wore this."

Rey's brow lifts. "Oh?"

Leia chuckles. "We told you she let my father claim her before they got married. The heat that triggered was...productive. Not much you can do to prevent it when a compatible alpha and omega find each other."

Padme doesn't seem the least bit ashamed. "Let's see if we can find your boobs," she says, feeling around the fabric. Rey endures the prodding while Leia attaches a veil to the back of her head.

"It's like an Easter egg hunt," Padme decides after a few seconds of fruitless searching.

Rey blushes. She's never been well endowed up top. It's fine. It's something that sometimes she's self-conscious over, but mostly she tries not to think about. Some traitorous voice in her head whispers that Ben didn't seem to mind their size when he was drawing each one into his mouth during their frenzies coupling.

Her blush deepens. Padme's hands find her with a little squeeze, and Rey jumps.

"Oh! There they are!"

"Ah, yeah, that's them."

"Okay, so we know what we're working with. Now," she dissolves into quiet muttering, moving around Rey, pinning things in place. Her wrinkles deepen with her frown of concentration.

Leia, meanwhile, smooths Rey's veil and says tentatively. "So, I was thinking that if you're up for it, maybe we could come to you guys for the holidays. Ben hasn't been with us for the holidays in a long time, and with you there, it'll be even better. A real family."

Rey can almost picture it. Han in an ugly Christmas sweater bickering with Ben as they decide where to position the tree in the tiny New York apartment, Leia showing Rey how to make cinnamon rolls, snow falling outside as the city sparkles in colorful lights while Padme and Bing sing about Christmas in Hawaii. She'd get Ben a nice black sweater, something super soft like cashmere so that she could cuddle into it when they snuggled on the couch together while the rolls baked, the five of them chatting about...whatever people talked about at family gatherings.

"That'd be nice," she decides. Of course, New York gets crowded that time of year. More crowded than usual, that is. Han would probably be happier staying in his comfortable world, snowed into his cliffside lodge. The size of the tree they could bring into that enormous house — a huge old fir, so big it takes all of them to decorate it, passing the popcorn string around and around as it encircles the fluffy boughs. She'd get on a ladder to reach higher, and Ben would hold her waist because he'd be nervous about her falling, and she'd let him because it'd feel so good to have his hands there.

"Or maybe we could come to you," Rey adds softly.

She's never celebrated Christmas with anyone before.

Leia is silent for a moment. "That would be nice," she says, and her voice shakes. Rey hears a sniff and glances over her shoulder to find the alpha woman wiping misty eyes. "I would love that so much."

"Leia, pull yourself together," Padme chides. "We've got a lot to do to get these two kids hitched in a couple days!"

"I know, I know," Leia laughs through her tears. "I'm sorry."

"Go take a minute. Get that Dameron boy in the shop to make you a cup of tea. Go on. We can finish up here."

Leia sniffs, laughs again, and nods. She pats Rey one more time. "You look beautiful. The dream that any mother would have for her daughter."

Those words land funny in Rey's stomach as she watches Leia take herself out and into the general store. Warm like hot chocolate, but also like a brand of shame. She swallows.

Padme is too concentrated to say much while they work, pinning here, adjusting there. Rey is grateful because it's hard to talk right now. There's this thick lump in her throat, and she doesn't even know what she'd say anyway. Leia called her _daughter_. Padme routinely calls her _granddaughter_. And no one has ever shown her the love these people have. And that scenario which seemed so real to her just seconds ago now crumbles under the realization that it won't happen. Because that would require all this to be real. It isn't.

After a while, Padme steps back and assesses. She nods, satisfied, and holds up a figure. "One finishing touch, and then you can see yourself in the mirror."

Oh yay. Rey tries not to fidget and stab herself on the pins peppering her body.

Padme turns and goes to a little jewelry case on top of a chest of drawers containing all manner of notions. She withdraws something and comes back, holding it reverently in her hands. It's a kind of white pendant, like it was hand carved from a chip of bone, maybe. It's roughly square, with two indented sides, and little carvings on it like swirls and stars. It's not conventionally beautiful, but Rey knows immediately that this has enormous sentimental value.

"Anakin made this for me when we were young," Padme explains, a fond look warming her deep brown eyes. They crinkle at the corner in a little smile. "Carved it himself."

"It's beautiful," Rey tells her. "But I can't—"

"I'm not finished."

"Oh, sorry."

"I come from a long line of socially problematic women, Rey. And problematic omegas. Sometimes they were the same thing." She laughs. "It was certain that when a Naberrie or Amidala woman was an omega, she'd be a firecracker. They were always bucking convention, challenging the sensitivities and decency of the people of their day. I suppose I was no different. Anakin and I were quite the scandal, you know. I had my career. I was focused. He was trying to become a priest of all things, can you believe it? But we could never escape it. We tried. We thought it would be better to stick to our plans, to keep hold of the futures we'd envisioned for ourselves. But we were drawn together, again and again. And I can't deny what his scent did to me. Back then our suppressants weren't as good as they are today, so I'd have a breakthrough every time we spent any significant amount of time together. It was maddening."

Rey doesn't want to interrupt. Padme strokes the little pendant with her thumb, lost in her memory now.

"His family was against it. So was mine. His brother, Ben, was the only supportive friend we had. Almost split is up. But you can't deny fate when it finds you. When we finally gave in and I let him claim me...the whole world changed."

"How—" Rey stops herself, drawing a deep breath. She hadn't meant to say anything at all.

Padme glances up at her. "How what?"

"How did you know he was…" she blushes, embarrassed to even say it out loud. "You know."

"The one?" Padma laughs. "I didn't, until he bit. But I was pretty sure. Sure enough to take the leap of faith. Despite my family. Despite common sense. Despite everything I'd been working towards to prove to the world that I didn't need an alpha to matter. We have spines of steel, don't we? Us omega girls out in the world. We can face anything. You're like that, I think. I see all the women of my family in you, Rey. Tough. Brave. You belong with us. That's why I want you to have this."

Rey's stomach plummets. "No, Padme, I can't take that."

"Yes you can." Padme puts it into her hand.

Rey pushes it back. "No, really. Please, it's yours, I don't—"

"I don't want to hear it!" She moves around behind Rey, reaching up to clasp the pendent on its chain around her neck. "Grandmothers love to give their stuff to their grandchildren. It makes us feel like we'll still be part of your lives after we're gone. Please, take it."

She steers Rey around to the mirror at last. The woman looking back at her isn't Rey at all. She's a vision in classic twenties elegance, clean lines, trim waist, slender silhouette, ivory satin beneath intricate lace. Everything above her breasts is bare beneath that lace, all the way down to her wrists. The pins have done their job well, the dress flatters her. The veil completes the ensemble, making Rey look like a true bride. Like someone who is loved. Wanted.

And that pendent, hanging there. A token from an alpha who so loved his omega, he threw away everything to be with her.

Tears well up without warning, accompanying a surge of longing so painful, Rey almost gasps. She wants this. All of this. This family. She wants to belong to this line of people, to this story of disparate pieces managing to find their way to one another. She wants this love that they're offering her. Kindness and acceptance and affection, like no one has ever offered.

But she doesn't deserve any of it. She's _lying to them_ , for the sake of a tedious immigration loophole. She's wearing this totem of love, pretending it's real, all the while preparing to break their hearts. Like she has no feelings at all.

She's a monster.

"Are you alright?" Padme asks, brow knitting together with concern.

"Um…" Rey says shakily. "I've just…I've never pictured myself here."

Padme puts an arm around her and gives her a squeeze. "Don't worry. You belong."

* * *

Ben is lounging on the boat with a book when she gets back to the marina. He sits up, lips spreading in a little smile as she climbs down the ladder.

"Hey," he says. "Check this out. This is one of ours from before you became director. You're listed as an acquisitions editor. Not a bad pick, Johnson."

"Is this untied?" she asks, stepping over the side and into the boat.

He leans over and unloops the mooring lines. "It is now."

She assumes the helm and turns the engine on, yanking the throttle the way she's seen him do it. The boat lurches forward with a violent roar and suddenly they're rocketing off into the ocean. Rey clutches at the wheel, heart pounding a frantic rhythm in her chest, and it has nothing to do with operating a machine she's never driven before in her life.

Ben's noise of protest and alarm is swallowed up in the air rushing past her face, icy cold at this speed. It whips through her hair and drowns out everything except her thoughts. They're unbearably loud.

A moment later Ben is next to her, gripping the top of the windshield and the back of her chair to steady himself. "Rey, what the hell happened?"

"Nothing," she snaps.

"What's wrong?"

"I just needed to get away from everybody." She has to raise her voice above the wind. It feels good to shout.

"Why?" he demands. He risks letting go with one hand long enough to grab her's, the one she's got clutched tight to the throttle. His thumb wraps around her wrist to rub the scent gland beneath, warm, soothing strokes that make her shiver. Her grip loosens, and he gently eases the throttle until the boat slows.

"It's okay," he murmurs softly, face inches from hers as he brings them to a safe stop. His thumb is still brushing over her gland. "It's okay."

"No, it's not," she says, voice softer now that they don't have the bellowing engine or howling wind around them. Her voice cracks and the fucking tears are back again, even though the panic in her chest is slowly diminishing under his touch. "It's not okay."

"Tell me." His eyes are dark and intense. He smells so good. Rey wants to go back into heat and just spend it with him and forget everything else. Forget all this complicated stuff. She just wants the raw passion of those four days.

"I forgot, okay?" she says miserably, looking away as the tears spill in earnest.

The boat bobs on the open ocean. The peninsula with the estate is visible in the distance, but they're utterly alone out here. Ben gently pulls her to the back of the boat and coaxes her to sit on the bench next to him.

He's so caring. Even when he's a snarky asshole, he's always been mindful of her. He's a good alpha. Maybe the best she'll ever meet.

"You forgot what?" he asks.

"I forgot this was a lie. For just a minute. And I...I wanted it, Ben. I don't know what it's like to have a family. I've been on my own forever. Even when they were pretending to love me, I always knew, deep down, I was alone."

Ben brings a hand to the side of her face and thumbs away her tears. "You're not alone now, Rey."

"I don't want to be," she says, heart breaking because oh how she _needs_ that tenderness in his face to be real, and to come from genuine affection, not just pity. "I want someone to come visit for the holidays, or someone for me to go visit for the holidays. I want people who care. I want to deserve the necklace. I want to belong to the legacy of omegas. I want to know I've found _the one_ , stupid as it is. The one who makes everything all better. And you have all that here. You have all of them. And I'm— I'm going to ruin it."

"No you aren't." His voice is firm. "You aren't ruining anything. I agreed to this. It was a quid pro quo."

"Not an equitable trade," she shoots back, batting his hand away from where it lingers on her face. "What did I risk by promoting you? Losing the best assistant I've ever had? Giving up that feeling that everything's going to be okay that I always get when you're around? Big deal. You, you're not only risking jail, you're risking this perfect life you have waiting for you here. Omegas are always throwing themselves at you, and you could have any one of them, and bring them here, and have everything in the world. They'd all deserve this more than me."

Ben's mouth clamps shut, his brow furrowing as he studies her.

"Your family loves you," she tells him. "Do you know that?"

"Yes, I know that."

"Do you? And you're willing to put them through this anyway?"

His voice is still gentle, but it's a little bit cool, too. "They're not going to find out it's a scam, Rey."

"How do you know that?" Without his touch, she's getting worked up again. Terrible images flash through her mind. The disappointed features of her one-time hero, now would-be-mother, Leia. The shock and horror of sweet Padme, her new omega role model and mentor.

"Fuck, Ben, if your grandmother finds out, she's going to have a heart attack."

"No she won't."

"She will. She's so old, and she's so invested in this. She's _convinced_ it's fate. It's gonna kill her to find out it was all a lie."

"It's not," Ben says firmly. "And it won't. She won't find out. But listen to me. You have to communicate like _this_ when things freak you out, okay? Hijacking a boat is dangerous. What if you'd fallen in?"

She shivers at the thought, wiping at her tears.

He takes her head in both hands, holding her carefully. "I can't...lose you. You need to stay safe, okay? For me? Or for yourself. Just please don't do reckless shit like this. We can talk about it. We can figure this out."

"How?" she asks, voice small and sad and miserable again. "Ben. This is _awful_ , what we're doing. I don't want your family to hate me. I can't marry you on Saturday. I'll just go back to London."

"No, no." His voice drops and he pulls her in, gathering her into his arms and halfway onto his lap. He feels good and warm and safe. His scent reminds her of them, of how at peace she felt in that guest house with him. She sinks into his body and shudders.

"No," he says again. "You can't back out on me now. We'll be fine. We got this."

She whimpers, the only noise of protest she can manage, tucking her face into his chest. And she realizes with a pang that her relief at his protective arms around her isn't purely biological. Her hunger for his affection isn't just because he's an alpha who smells good.

"I've got you, baby, it's okay," he's murmuring into her hair, fingers trailing over the scent glands on her neck, mindful and soothing. "You're safe. Everything will be okay. I've got you."

And maybe, just maybe, she starts to believe him. _Alpha is here,_ half of her believes, weak with relief. But the other half of her is still guarded, and she wonders — for how long?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *surreptitiously upping the chapter count by one*
> 
> Thanks for hanging in there during this angsty stuff. We're so close!


	11. Chapter 11

They're back in the main house that night. Rey's quiet throughout dinner. She's calmer now, no longer in the existential crisis that led to the boat incident, but the reservations she expressed a still very real. Leia and Padme talk happily about the dress, promising Ben he's going to pass out when he sees how beautiful his bride is. Ben makes the appropriate responses, but Rey can tell he's anxious. His scent gives him away. It's on edge, the way it has been since they got back. She wonders if his parents can read it was well as she can.

Rey doesn't exactly feel anxious. She feels numb, and just eats robotically. Han eats in silence too, but he keeps glancing between them, and Rey gets the peculiar sensation of prey being stalked by a hunter. It's a weird feeling because Han has been generally civil to her, even warm, at times. Right now, though, he looks like he's staring right through their camouflage.

After dinner they go back up to their room. It's the one they haven't stepped into since that scenting incident. Rey dithers in the bathroom, taking too long to change. On the one hand, it feels ridiculous to wear even these flimsy little pajamas around Ben now after spending four days naked and stuck to him, taking every drop of him inside her. But on the other, she feels awkward about even sharing the bed with him again. This would technically only be the second time they're doing this in the right minds. And now there's a whole lot more between them than there was last time.

Finally she comes out. Ben is already in bed, back to reading his book. The curtains are closed, cocooning them in darkness except for the lamp illuminating his side of the vast bed. Rey slides into her side, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible.

It doesn't work.

"How close is this one to the original manuscript?" he asks, glancing over the edge of his book to her.

"Eh...which one are you reading?"

"The Birds of the Arboretum." He shows her the cover. A twisting tree's tangled branches taking up most of the space. There are small sparrows hidden in the branches.

Rey remembers that one. It was one of her early successes. Luke had praised her good eye for picking it, because the original manuscript was a little off the mark, but with her RR exchanges with the author, it had become a strong, beautiful story that sold very well.

"There were a lot of changes," she admits. "The original wasn't very focused. It had too many subplots going everywhere."

"The slow burn between Kaia and Wren?"

"That was my suggestion. She had too much too soon. There was no tease. It took some convincing, but I told her that unresolved sexual tension sells better."

His mouth crooks in the suggestion of a smile. "It's brilliant the way it is now. Very hot."

It's not her book, but still, Rey experiences a flicker of pride. "Thanks. I'd kind of forgotten about it."

"Grams always stocks the store with our books. I think it's her way of telling Luke she loves him. And telling the town they better read Dagobah before any other publisher. I don't know how she decides which titles to carry, but I always find old stuff there." He glances over the cover again.

"You know the funny thing about that one…" Rey hesitates. He looks back over at her, single brow lifting. A self-conscious little laugh escapes her. "It was unagented."

Ben drops the book like she'd just said it was bound in human skin, flicking it away. "Gross. Awful. It's trash. I can't believe you let me read that."

She laughs. "It's not trash!"

"Oh, it's not?" He looks at it dubiously. "But it was unagented. And this big wig editor I know refuses to publish books not repped by agents."

She rolls her eyes, but grins despite herself. "Yeah, yeah. That one worked out. I got lucky. They don't always."

"Nah," he pushes the book aside. "I don't believe it. There are no exceptions."

She reaches over to pick it up from the mattress, but the moment her fingers brush the cover, his hand wraps around her wrist. She looks up.

"What, suddenly you're protective of your little exception?" He smirks.

It's that stupid alpha look again. The one she despises. The one that makes her want to pin him down and beg for mercy from his helpless, needy little omega. It riles her. She tries to tug her arm out of his grasp to no avail. She knows how to break the hold if she needs to, but she lets him think he's got her for now. Instead she slowly, deliberately climbs out from beneath the comforter.

Ben's eyes dart to her legs untangling themselves from the sheets, exposed by her loose, stupidly short shorts. She smiles demurely and settles in a little closer to him now, giving another half-hearted little tug of her wrist.

"Please, alpha, may I have the book?"

He sucks in a sharp breath, dark eyes glittering in the lamplight, and his scent shifts. Good. Rey remembers how he throbbed inside her whenever she played nice like this. He sits up better, the hand not currently tethering her to him finds her leg, skating his fingers up from bare knee to bare thigh.

"You can have it," he says in a low murmur, and she reaches with her captured arm. He pulls her back sharply, though, "— _if_."

She looks up, arranging her features to seem as innocent as she can. "If?"

"If you promise to marry me on Saturday."

Rey blinks, momentarily thrown out of her game. "What?"

Ben might be aroused by her coy pretense, but he's not in rut, and his eyes are wickedly sharp and aware when he says, "We have a deal, little omega. No more talking about backing out."

"You're worried I won't hold up my end of the bargain if I release you from yours?" Is that why his scent was all muddled during dinner? Why he smelled agitated? "Don't worry, the promotion is yours. It's done. It isn't tied to this anymore."

"Promise," he demands, undeterred. And there's the tiniest hint of a command growling beneath his undertones. It almost pulls the words right out of her mouth.

Instead Rey snatches the book with her free hand and yanks her wrist against the weak juncture between his thumb and forefinger, popping herself free. She scrambles back across the bed, but doesn't get far. Ben has learned how fast she can move, and she obviously didn't learn her lesson the first time, because his alpha instincts come roaring to life the instant his quarry tries to flee. His hands wrap around her ankles and pull her legs out from under her.

She rolls when he tries to pin her down, squirrly and uncooperative, and she's not quite sure what's gotten into her because she feels breathless and excited and like she wants him to keep chasing her. He keeps dragging her back when she tries to get away, but she doesn't stop trying, and keeping her down is like holding a slippery bar of soap. Ben growls in frustration and she laughs.

Finally he succeeds, dropping his whole weight down onto her back, flattening her into the mattress so she can't move. She keeps wriggling, though, trying to push him off until his hot lips meet her gland and mouth at it. Instantly she freezes, limbs locking, breath still in her lungs.

"That's better," he rumbles. "Cheeky little thing, thinks she can get away."

"Alpha, please—" she chokes on the words, horrified to realize she was about to ask him to bite, again. She's not even in heat.

What the hell?

"No, no, you've lost the book, little one." He plucks it deftly from her hand and knocks it out of the way. "You didn't promise, so you don't get it. Your little exception is mine."

"You're gonna get us in trouble again," she gasps, pushing her hips up into his groin. She can't help it.

"You started it," he says, grinding right back. He drops another kiss onto her gland, and her head flops forward onto the mattress. "Maybe that was your plan, hm?"

This is exciting and insane and Rey has no idea how to handle this intense feeling of arousal. They don't have the excuse of a heat or a rut to give them permission to go for it. That makes it more complicated, because that means she actually wants to...sleep with Ben.

His lips graze the shell of her ear. "Do you want me to turn off the light?"

She shivers. "Off?"

"So you can sleep," he clarifies, and the smoke clears from his voice. He chuckles. "I can be done reading if it's going to bother you."

With that, he lifts himself off her, crawling back to his side of the bed and tucking in under the covers again, opening his book to where he left off. He shoots her this knowing little smirk when she gapes at him.

He is, or was, just as aroused as she is. She could feel it pressing into her backside. She knows he's got to be uncomfortable. But he's just going to...ignore it? Go to sleep?

"Light on, or off?" he asks again, cocking his head.

"You can read…" she grumbles, getting up and going back to her side. She uses a little more force than necessary tucking herself in, frustration spilling over into her actions.

Ben chuckles. She turns over, facing away from him, and stares at the wall. Ending things so abruptly left her stranded cold in the midst of her wanton thoughts, with nothing to hide behind. She wanted Ben. Wants him still. Wants to find out if sex with him is as mindblowing in her lucid state as it is in heat. But this asshole alpha just _teased_ her.

But hadn't she intended to do the exact same to him?

What does it mean that her body comes so alive for him, or that even now, she wanted him to claim her?

It takes her a long time to fall asleep.

* * *

She wakes once in the night, unsurprised to find herself completely wrapped around Ben, and him wrapped around her in turn. She's also unsurprised to discover she's wet again, or maybe still wet from their stupid little romp, and that he's hard as a rock. It's jutting into her stomach, his thigh wedged between her legs.

Last time they shared this bed, she kept pulling herself away whenever she woke up into these pretzeled circumstances. She doesn't this time. It feels pointless. She knows she'll just end up here again, and they've already gone so much further than this. She just closes her eyes and tries to go back to sleep.

It...doesn't work very well.

She fell asleep denied, and now the body she so badly craved is right here. She's wet and sensitive, and if she tips her hips just _so_ , she can grind down against his leg. It feels _good_. Ben's scent is strong and inviting. She nuzzles into his chest and grinds down again, digging his cock into her stomach.

He sighs a soft, appreciative groan and stirs a little. Rey freezes. She hadn't meant to wake him. Maybe this is super messed up. Maybe she shouldn't be doing this without his consent. But his thigh is thick and hard and pressed right up against where she wants it. She bites her lip and waits, and when he doesn't move again, she rocks down once more.

Ben hums. "So needy," he murmurs, his voice gravelly with sleep.

She jerks her head up to see his eyes fluttering open. There's a little smile on his lips, though, so she doesn't think he's upset.

"C'mere," he says, shifting his hands down around her ass, palming her gratuitously before sliding her up and away from his thigh, guiding one of her legs up over his hip. She's flush with his cock now, and he knows it, pushing forward to rub against her.

"Alpha," she whispers dizzily.

"I'm right here. I've got you." He hitches them closer and adjusts his pajama pants so his cock comes free. He angles it between her legs and grinds into her again. She clings to his shirt and bites her lip. He noses into the space between the pillow and her cheek, his breath ghosting over the side of her face. He sounds as ragged as she feels.

"Is this good, omega?"

She gasps and nods as he grinds against her again, his length pushing the fabric of her flimsy shorts between her labia. She angles down on him and gasps.

It's who-the-fuck-knows-o'clock and they're both half awake, shuddering together as they rock against one another, chasing the pleasure they denied themselves earlier. His cock is big and hard and she remembers what it felt like, taking up all the space inside her. Just remembering it brings her that much closer to the edge. Ben's lips mouth at her cheek from where he's buried against the pillow, one of his hands leaving her ass to gently squeeze one of her breasts.

"Ben," she breathes, because it feels good to say his name. Because she can feel that he's exactly the same level of wrecked as she is. Because he's not just her alpha, and she knows that he doesn't just think of her as his omega.

"Marry me on Saturday," he whispers unsteadily.

Her eyes fly wide open, useless as it is in the dark, her stomach giving a funny swoop that has nothing to do with the way he slides hard along her wet seam. Is he asleep? Why is he saying that?

"Rey," he says. "Please."

"Why are you so worried I won't?" Is he this determined to help her get a visa? Does he feel so obligated to keep helping her after seeing her through her heat? His scent is anxious and needy again, and the hand still cupped around her ass, holding her against him, tightens.

"You—" his breath escapes in a frantic rush and she can tell he's close. She is too. The body high of racing towards orgasm is compounding the strength of her emotions and she feels kind of high.

Ben tries again, hissing as she pushes down on him harder, chasing that feeling of his hard cock stroking along her clit.

"You said today that you were going to run."

"Yesterday."

"Huh?"

She snakes a hand between them, shifting aside one of the bunched up legs of her shorts so that his next pass sees him gliding into the interior, right up against her skin and soaking wet hair. They both groan together.

When she finally finds her voice again, she says with some difficulty, "I don't know what time it is, but I'm pretty sure it qualifies as Thursday now. So I said that yesterday."

Ben growls and shoves her hips down firmly. His cock catches in her hollow once before sliding on to nudge her clit. Rey gasps, and he grunts softly. "You really want to argue semantics with me right now?"

"N-no," she stammers.

"Don't run," he says, and it should sound like a plea, but there's a note of warning in it too.

"I thought you liked it when I ran."

"I like catching you." The hand around her ass shifts a little and he hitches her just a centimeter higher. It improves the angle significantly so now when he slides forward, he teases the edge of her entrance. It would be so easy to slip inside like this. Her body seems to beg for it, coating him in way too much self-made lubrication. It'll glide right in if he wants it to.

His other hand strays from her breast, up to her jaw. He tilts it up. She can't see his eyes, but she can feel his lips so close as they issue their promise. "And I will always catch you."

Her mouth parts, exhaling shakily. Is any of this real? Is this some feverishly horny dream she's having in the middle of the night? She wants to kiss him. She wants to feel the gloss of his lips as they slip over hers, his tongue teasing her the way his cock is. Was it only last night that they were doing this in earnest, free to let go under the guise of heat? What does it mean that they didn't even last a full 24 hours before clawing their way towards each other again?

"You haven't answered me. About Saturday," he says, pausing. The very tip of him is nestled against her. One little nudge and he'd breach her non-existent defenses.

She turns her head out of his grasp, into the pillow. Her back arches, levering her hips just enough that the soft head of him sinks into her. Ben's body clenches, a sharp intake of air hissing between his teeth. It's a good distraction, she thinks. He'll forget and just chase his orgasm to completion.

He doesn't. He holds his hips very still, fingers leaving her jaw to twine between them and nudge at her sensitive bud. She jolts. She's already close, and this will get her there very quickly.

"You don't have to hide," he whispers. "No one's going to hurt you."

"You could." The words fall from her trembling lips, maybe more than she meant to say, but laced with her secret dread.

"No. I can't." He eases his hips back, pulling his tip out and skating through her folds again, working in tandem with his clever fingers.

It doesn't take long. She muffles a soft mewl of intolerable pleasure as her body crests, not earth-shattering the way it was during her heat, but slow and rolling and powerful. It pulses over and over in waves, and she trembles through them all. Ben's hand goes to his own cock, pumping it in quick, efficient strokes to get himself there.

Rey rides her own aftershocks as she reaches down to join him, replacing his fingers with her own. He wraps around her hand, and together they work him. She tips her pelvis and tugs him to her core once again, feeding the very tip of him back into her. They finish him off that way, pumping fast and hard with somewhere for his crisis to go, so when he gives a strangled groan and his cock throbs in their hands, he spills into her in warm spurts. Again and again. It isn't as much as when he knots her, and it doesn't last nearly so long. But still, Rey blushes when she realizes what she's done — again.

Definitely gonna get that pill tomorrow.

Ben gently pulls her hand away from him and slips out of her. He tugs her shorts back into place, and pulls his own pajama pants up. For a dreadful moment, Rey's afraid he's going to make her go back to her side of the bed. But he doesn't. After they're both fixed up, he pulls her back in, tucking her in snug to his body, his chest heaving in a tired sigh.

Oh, he's gonna let her sleep here. Yes, that's good. She likes that. Her pounding heart starts to slow, appeased.

"Rey," he says haggardly after a few silent minutes where she thought maybe he already dozed off.

"Hmm?"

"The only one with the power to hurt either of us here is you. Please don't."

She doesn't say anything. He doesn't either.

* * *

Rey isn't sure which of them wakes up first. At some point it becomes clear that they're both conscious, though neither speak at first. They're spooning, with Rey's back held tight to Ben's chest. He's got an arm under her and one over her, hugging her like a security blanket. His chin nestles against the top of her head.

The middle of the night thing is a little foggy. She remembers what happened, and what was said, but it's just hazy enough that she's pretty sure she could convince herself it was all an omega wet dream — except for the mess between her legs and the fact that there's an unspoken thing between them right now. A little awkward, a little heavy. She doesn't know what to say. Seems like maybe he doesn't either.

Should she feel bad that despite her freak out yesterday, she still dry humped his thigh until he woke up and indulged her?

Eventually Ben loosens his hold. He lifts one arm off her and tips to the side, clicking that button which makes the curtains crack open.

Rey takes the opportunity to stretch. She rolls off his arm and onto her stomach, arching like a cat before settling in with her arms tucked up under her, head turning, peering at him. He looks groggy, lips bee-stung and pouty while his eyes squint in the thin light illuminating the room. His hair is a tousled mess. She kind of wants to tease it back into place. She knows how soft it is.

They just study each other like that for a few seconds. It's pretty clear that neither of them forgot what they did in the middle of the night. It warms in his cheeks, and in her chest.

"I'm...gonna go shower," she says after a moment.

"Stay," he says softly.

She presses her face into the pillow, eyes squeezing shut. The warm cedarwood notes of his scent carry something else in them this morning, something she can't quite interpret but that smells similar to his anxious state from yesterday. It makes her want to comfort him.

What is this? Why is he acting like the whole world hinges on what she decides to do on Saturday? Why does his voice sound a little broken when he asks her to stay right now? Why the hell did they have a sexual encounter again last night?

It's like when her heat was starting. She can feel the answer right in front of her, at her fingertips. But it eludes her when she grasps for it.

She opens her eyes again and Ben is still watching her, studying her, maybe. One of the straps of her re-purposed tee has slipped from her shoulder. He reaches out and slides it back up now, fingers trailing warmth in their wake.

"I like cheesy Hallmark movies," Ben says after a minute. "And over the top, b-rated horror. Cringey sci-fi and hilariously bad fantasy films? I'm there. Anything that leans all the way in to what it is."

This coaxes a smile out of her. "You have awful taste."

"So I've heard. What about you?"

"I like classic mysteries. Agatha Christie film adaptations might be my favorite." She considers. "I'm always down for a good drama, too."

"Romcoms?"

"I have to be in the right mood to suspend all disbelief. They're too trope-y. Real life doesn't work that way."

"Hm." He rolls into his back, sliding his arms behind his head. "Maybe. Or maybe sometimes it does."

"Why am I trying to explain this to a man who loves cheesy movies?" She wonders to herself.

That wins her a soft chuckle.

His phone buzzes sharply and suddenly from the nightstand, startling them both. He reaches over and grabs it, squinting at the screen, frowning before bringing it to his ear.

"Why the fuck are you calling me right now like we're not in the same house?"

The volume must be kind of loud, because Rey can hear Han's voice grumble faintly through the other end.

"I tried to come up there to find you but it smelled like sex so I got the hell out of there before I had the terrible image of my son mid-knot burned into my brain."

Rey's face gets hot. She _definitely_ needs a shower. While Ben is too distracted to ask her to stay again, she slips out of bed and makes a bee-line for the bathroom.

The shower feels good. She tries not to circle the same stupid thoughts that keep tumbling around her mind, over and over. Questions about Ben. About his weird mood and their weird sex-not-sex, about his family and this ridiculous wedding the day after tomorrow, about what happens six months from now when the whole thing is resolved. About how alone she'll be on Christmas.

Trying not to think about any of that results in failure.

She washes carefully and thoroughly, and dumps her scent neutralizing products in the trash when she's done because she doesn't see herself ever using them again. She may not know where she stands with Ben right now, but she knows she won't try to hide what she is anymore. If people don't take her seriously, she'll show them how much bite an omega is capable of.

When she comes out, the curtains are fully open and Ben is up, standing out on the balcony. She wonders for a moment if she should just head downstairs and see what everyone is up to, but she doesn't think he'd appreciate her disappearing like that. His alpha instincts must be going haywire right now. That's the only explanation she can think of for why he's anxious about her running away. Her comment on the boat wasn't _that_ dramatic...she doesn't think.

Instead of heading downstairs, she goes out to the balcony and towels off her hair. "So what was that about?"

Ben glances at her. His gaze lingers, hooded and warm. "He wants to talk to us down in the barn."

"Us?"

He shrugs. "That's what he said."

"Right now?"

"Yeah. I mean, I told him he could wait for us to shower, but that we'd be down right after."

"Okay." She glances out at the sparkling sea and sprawling dramatic landscape. "Wonder what he wants."

Ben shrugs. "Who the hell knows with him. He's probably gonna try to tell us that we need to leave New York and come settle here to start our family."

_Fuck_.

Is it just biology, her awakened inner omega exulting at the way he says that, _our family_? Is it a swoop of fear? What is that godforsaken feeling that makes her blush and look away and ask herself how he can sound so casual about it?

"Oh," she says softly. "Well...good luck with that. Like either of those things would ever happen."

He turns his body towards her, taking in her face. With boldness she didn't expect, he slips a hand around her waist and pulls her in, the fingers of his other hand sliding through the part between her shirt and her shorts, hot on the skin of her belly. It's a soft caress over a meaningful place just below her navel.

"Really? Have you taken care of it?"

She's getting used to his hands on her, and oh, it's so dangerous. "Er...that...doesn't need to be your concern. I will."

He makes this soft, dissatisfied rumble in his chest and lets his hands fall away. "This is going to sound like the most misogynistic alpha bullshit, I know that, but do me a favor? Don't tell me about it when you do. I have a feeling that if you did, I'd launch into rut right there and try to fix the situation."

Her face flames again. Apparently they're talking casually about this now? It's both embarrassing and exhilarating, this admission that is body is intent on filling her again and again until it sticks. Also something wicked inside Rey thinks that maybe she _will_ tell him when she finally takes the pill, because that reaction would be reckless and oh so hot. She doesn't know if omegas are meant to handle an alpha in rut outside a heat, but a dark thing inside her wants to find out.

"Don't worry, I won't tell you. Now go shower," she urges. "Your dad's waiting."

He huffs a soft breath. "Always dancing away, my skittish little omega. Mark my words, I'm going to find a way to get you tell me what goes through that head of yours when you get that funny look on your face."

"Go," she insists, pushing him away.

He does, tossing her a glance over his shoulder before vanishing into the bathroom. She leans her elbows on the railing of the balcony and puts her face in her hands, issuing a frustrated groan.

Okay. Honest assessment time. Something is definitely going on that isn't just a fake engagement. She's definitely in over her head. And these feelings surging inside her, feelings _for_ _him_ — she can't deny them anymore. At least not to herself. But that thing he'd said last night about not being able to hurt her? It's bullshit. Because he will. When she gets her green card and he pats her head and sends her on her way, their deal fulfilled.

At this point, Rey's not sure there's any way she can protect herself from that. She's in too deep. The feelings are there, unnamed but strong and irrepressible, as much as she's tried to resist them.

She's fucked.

* * *

"I want to talk to both of you," Han says when they meet him at the barn door. He has his arms crossed over his chest and he looks stern. His scent reads unhappy.

"About what?" Ben glances behind him. "Shouldn't you be stringing the lights or something? I thought mom put you on decorating duty."

"Do you need help?" Rey adds. "I'm good on a ladder. I could help you."

Han's expression falters for just a moment when he glances at her, like resolve wavering. But it's back in an instant, and he shakes his head. "It's not about that. Follow me. And Ben, your mother is never to hear about any of this."

They step into the diffuse light of the barn and come face to face with — Krennic, the INS agent.

He looks the same as he did in the office, perpetual frown sagging into his face, eyes shrewd and unfriendly.

"Surprised?" he asks.

'Surprised' is an inadequate word for what shock and terror snatches the power of speech right out of her. Ben is stiff too, alarm spiking through his scent.

"Told you I'd check up on you," Krennic says in response to their silence.

Ben turns to his father, teeth clenched in a snarl. "What did you do?"

Han bristles defensively. "I got a call from Mister Krennic here. He told me that if you two were lying about this engagement, and he strongly believes you are, then he would send you to prison. So I flew him up here. Picked him up this morning."

"You controlling piece of shit," Ben seethes, fists clenching. Rey grabs his arm in a flash of fear. "You can't just let me live my life, huh? You've got to interfere when you think I'm screwing up?"

"I'm not going to let my son go to prison."

"What did you tell him?" Ben demands.

"I told him I thought it was damn strange that my alpha son wouldn't mate his supposed fiancée in the middle of her breakthrough heat. We're not that religious. Nobody would have batted an eye, and you know that. The only reason you wouldn't do it is if you didn't really want that permanent commitment, which puzzled me until I got Krennic's call here."

"I thought —" Rey swallows, her voice trembling. "I thought we were okay, Han. I thought we were getting along?"

"It's not personal, kid," Han tells her. "I think you're okay, and I understand that you don't want to go back to England. I think it's more Luke's fault for encouraging this than it is yours. But I'm not going to let you drag my son into a legal nightmare just to save your skin."

"Luckily for you, Ben," Krennic cuts in, "Your father negotiated a deal on your behalf."

"Oh, wonderful," Ben says sarcastically. "Saving the day, huh, Pop?"

"Just fucking listen to him," Han snaps.

Krennic is cool as a cucumber, if a little amused. "Now, this offer is going to last approximately one minute, so listen closely. You're going to make a statement admitting this marriage is fraudulent, and merely a tactic to get a green card for Miss Johnson. If you don't, you'll go to prison. If you do, you're off the hook. Miss Johnson will go back to England and nobody will be prosecuted."

It's a safe out for both of them. It will still hurt the family, but Rey could leave now with Krennic and not have to see their disappointed faces.

But Ben is silent and still, and she can feel how his attention slides to her. _Please don't run._ His echo from last night rings through her head. He's waiting for her to hurt them. She chews her lip and says nothing. The thought of leaving with Krennic right now, of leaving _Ben,_ is so physically painful that she feels the threat of tears coming on. Fortunately she's spent a lifetime building an emotional arsenal, and finds it useful right now, willing that pain away, turning it into resolve. She isn't going to run. If he wants this way out, he can choose that for both of them. She'll accept it.

Han gets impatient with their silence. "Take the deal, you idiots. It's a win-win for everyone."

"No," Ben says firmly.

"Come on, don't be stupid," Han starts.

But Ben cuts him off. "You want a statement, Krennic? Here's your statement. I've worked for Rey Johnson for three years. Six months ago we started secretly dating. I fell in love with her before she did, but I waited for her to feel the same way, and then I asked her to marry me. She said 'yes.' We seal the deal on Saturday. See you at the wedding."

With that, he takes Rey's hand and pulls her out of the barn, stalking away with anger flowing from his every step. She holds tight to him, heart skipping erratically. This shouldn't be a surprise. He clearly had his sights set on Saturday last night. But it feels meaningful that he didn't take the exit when it was shown to him. He's choosing them. Choosing her. Despite the clean escape on the one hand and all the dirty consequences on the other.

And a nascent flicker of hope blooms in her chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Rey. We love our stubbornly dense disaster child.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a two chapter day! This is the first one.

Padme is a fountain of bubbly excitement over breakfast. She keeps talking about the wedding, making plans with Leia about food, ruminating over the hierarchy of the guest list. Rey and Ben are both quite and tense. They don't say much. Krennic being here looms like a shadow. He and Han don't come in for breakfast, which Rey is glad about.

"I have some errands for you to run today, Ben," Leia informs him while he's helping her with the dishes afterwards.

"Fine. Give me your list, they'll get done. Rey's coming with me, though."

Rey's helping Padme clear the table, but she's moving kind of slow because the sight of Ben at the kitchen sink, broad back muscles flexing as he washes and passes plates and cups to his mother to dry is making her feel some fluttery things deep in her stomach. Attraction, maybe. She's had access to that body and explored every inch of it, but somehow seeing him like this is hot in a whole different way. _It feels like a crush_ , she thinks with some embarrassment.

It takes a second for his comment to sink in, but when it does, she snaps back into focus, a mix of relief and amusement blooming in her chest. Does he think if he leaves her here alone, she's going to run to Krennic and take the deal? She won't. But it doesn't matter, she's happy to tag along anyway. It's better than being here where the unguarded love of these two women is inevitably going to make her freak out again.

"We thought we could use her here," Leia protests. "It's her wedding, she should get an opinion about flowers and everything."

"Oh, I really don't have opinions about that," Rey chimes in. "I trust your taste better than my own."

"Leia, let the kids have their fun," Padme says breezily. She turns to Rey with a smile. "Besides, we're going to snatch you away for most of the day tomorrow, honey. Be with your big handsome alpha today. Don't worry about anything."

Leia surrenders easily. She hands Rey the dish towel and goes to write down a list of the things she wants Ben to do. Rey takes up the drying job. Ben hands her a cup. She peeks up at him and yep, there's that small, reserved little smile curled contentedly at the corner of his lips and a warm look in his eye. She blushes, smiles, and dries the cup.

They find a good rhythm with their chore, and though they don't speak, Rey can feel a kind of understanding humming between them anyway. Like they're on the same team. It reminds her of the best days at work, when they're both fired up about something and they manage to execute some complicated strategy with perfect synergy. There have been those rare, brilliant moments when they seem like they share one mind. Right now kind of feels like that, over something as silly as dishes. And this time is a little different because there's the memory of last night swirling between them too. She knows it's as present in his thoughts as it is for her. The way it felt when they came apart.

Ben's scent is no longer full of irritation. In fact, Krennic seems all but forgotten. He smells pleased. And Rey is too. At least for right now, she's not trying to figure out what the hell happens on Saturday, or after. She just dries these dishes and enjoys the way Ben's fingers brush hers when he passes her a dish, or the way he sometimes bumps her with his elbow or shoulder, like he means to. As if he likes touching her as much as she likes touching him.

Leia breaks in to this exclusive little world they constructed out of soap bubbles and running water, talking to Ben about her errands, and Rey only half pays attention until she says something which hauls her back into focus with breathtaking speed.

"Luke's flight gets in at three. Don't be late picking him up, please."

"Don't worry, we'll be there. Not like he couldn't get a ride from literally _anyone_ in town if he asked," Ben grumbles.

 _Luke_.

Leia did say yesterday morning in the guest house that she'd spoken to her brother and he said he'd come for the wedding. She did say that. But Rey had so easily forgotten, and now the realization sends her into a brief moment of panic. Because Luke is her _boss_ , and her mentor, the only person in New York she's been remotely close to. And because he spoke to Leia about why she and Ben hadn't come back to work, he knows that she was in heat. And that Ben saw her through it.

And he _knows_ it's all a lie.

"Are you alright, dear?" Padme asks, patting her arm. "You suddenly look quite pale."

Ben shuts off the water and turns towards them, but Rey ignores him. She conjures a fake smile for Padme.

"Oh, yes. I just...got a little nervous, I guess."

"Because guests are flying in to see you get married?" Padme grins a wide, toothy grin. "Don't worry, it's going to be perfect. Everything will be alright."

Yeah...maybe. Except Krennic is here, and Luke is here, which is one extra person who knows about the lie — and oh, fuck, what if Mara comes too? Would he do that? Would he invite her? Then there are _four_ people for Krennic to wrestle the truth from. And worse, Luke is going to see how his family has fallen for the lie, and he's going to see what heartless assholes Rey and Ben are for going through with it anyway.

Ben's hand envelopes hers, coaxing her attention back to him. "Hey," he says softly. "Let's go get started on these errands, huh? It's probably going to take us all day."

Leia scoffs. "There aren't that many, don't be so dramatic."

Padme goes to her daughter and tugs her down like she's going to tell her a secret, stage whispering, "I'm sure they can find ways to make a few errands take all day, honey. Use your imagination."

Rey blushes, Ben smirks, and Leia rolls her eyes. She hands Ben her list. "Don't forget your uncle in all your imaginative activities, please."

"No promises," says Ben, tugging Rey out of the kitchen, list in hand. She catches a wink from Padme as they pass.

* * *

Han must've taken Krennic back to the town, both men are gone when they come out of the house again. If he doesn't want Leia to know about the INS argent, it makes sense that he'd try to get rid of him as quickly as possible. Rey is relieved that they're not accosted again as they cross the yard towards the boat.

"You wanna drive?" Ben asks as they climb in, humor coloring his voice.

"You're so funny," she retorts dryly, "I can't believe I never knew how funny you were."

He chuckles a little and unties the boat. They settle into their seats, and Ben heads off across the bay.

"You know Krennic will probably be lurking around town, asking people about us," he says over the engine.

Rey grimaces. "Lovely."

"We might run into him. The town isn't that big."

"Maybe we can take him on a boat ride," Rey says with a little grin.

Ben laughs. "You'd throw him overboard."

"Exactly. Problem solved."

It's too hard to talk, so they drop it for now. When they get to Theed, though, and emerge at the top of the marina, Ben broaches the subject again.

"So, if Krennic is around, we might run into him. Or he could spot us even if we don't see him. So we should probably hold hands, don't you think?"

Rey peeks up at him, blushing when she catches his eye. Of course it's no big deal to hold his hand. He's been grabbing it off and on all day when he wants to pull her somewhere else. And last night they kinda, sorta held hands together around his cock. Oh and the whole heat thing, that should definitely have erased all physical barriers.

"Yeah, okay, makes sense," she says, pretending it's no big deal. "That way even if he spies us from afar, it'll strengthen our story."

"Exactly," says Ben.

"Right," says Rey.

And there's a beat of awkwardness before his hand finds hers, fingers slipping through the spaces of her own. They fit snugly together, even if his thickness is spreading her wide, and it doesn't take her more than thirty seconds to decide she likes it.

The next couple hours are surprisingly pleasant. They go by the bakery, run by a little old omega man, and give him Leia's order for the cake. He lets them taste a few varieties, and they end up amending Leia's instructions to the one they like best. He's not at all thrown by the two-day turnaround time, and expresses his effusive excitement over and over again until they leave. They go by a hardware store and pick up more strings of edison bulb lights. There are several errands, all of them simple tasks easily accomplished, but they take their time with them.

After the dress shop where they pick up dresses for both Leia and Padme, pre-ordered the day before, they head to a tailor to get Ben measured for a tux. Rey hasn't really had time to get too much in her head about things yet, since throughout their errands, Ben keeps talking to her about random things, like what high school was like for him, or how his father's fishing enterprise works, or the gossip about the latest high profile agents. But at the tailor, things slow down a bit. It's quiet. Ben is respectful and doesn't say much while the man carefully takes his measurements.

"Can you get it done by tomorrow evening?" Rey asks incredulously.

The man is a beta, rail-thin with a bald head, long neck, and big round eyes beneath his spectacles. He gives her a slow, sleepy look.

"Not to worry. I can do it. I already have something here which will be almost right, with only a few adjustments."

It's silent again as he notes the last few measurements. He disappears into the back for a while. Ben sits down next to Rey, leg bouncing. It's the only signal of nerves she gets from him, which surprises her. Is the pressure of their ruse finally getting to him? Is it real for him now that he's the one being fitted for a costume he has no right to wear?

"I'm adding an errand to the list," he says after a minute.

"Okay," Rey shrugs. She doesn't really mind what they do today before picking up Luke. She's in such a strange emotional state, it's easier to just go with the flow and ignore everything else right now.

"Ben, here," says the tailor, emerging again. "Try this on."

He stands and takes the garment bag, allowing the other man to show him into a little dressing room. When the tailor comes back, he finally assesses Rey for the first time, really _looks_ at her. His eyebrows lift a little, like he's not all that impressed with what he sees.

"So you're the new addition to the Skywalker clan, are you?"

"I guess so," she says with a little shrug.

He purses his lips. "Padme's sister was the lady who originally gave me the money for this place, years ago."

"Was she?" Rey didn't even know Padme _had_ any sisters, and anyway, it's a pretty abrupt way to just go spouting family facts.

The man nods and regards her shrewdly again. "You've got a fancy accent. Are you a fancy city girl?"

"Uh...no. I was just born in England, that's all. I'm really not that fancy."

"Hm. Are you marrying our young Ben here for his money?"

That startles a laugh right out of her, before she can decide if it's rude or not. "No, sir, I promise. I didn't even know Ben belonged to a family like this. He doesn't talk about it at all in New York."

She _is_ a shallow bitch exploiting Ben, but not for his money. For his citizenship. It amuses her to know this, especially when the tailor makes an unconvinced face.

"You know you're the first omega to happen to that family since the Amidala girls were born."

Rey isn't really sure what to say to that, so she gives him a polite smile and waits to see where he intends to take that thought.

"Their future depends on you," he says, his attention unrelentingly severe. "I don't think the family would survive another alpha-alpha pairing. It was almost over right there, with foolish Leia and her foolish husband. They thought love was more important than god-assigned designation, and oh, they paid for it. It was costly and painful and difficult for them to have Ben. He's the only one, and they all rely on him to carry on the legacy."

Rey shifts uncomfortably in her seat. "What if he doesn't want their legacy?"

The tailor frowns. "Then I suppose those international chains and investors who are always trying to buy their way into our little town will finally succeed. The only thing standing between them and us is Leia and her mother."

Well shit. That's not cripplingly enormous pressure on Ben's shoulders _at all_. If the livelihood of this little town is at stake, it's no wonder Han's such an asshole about Ben making a life for himself in New York. But she can't blame Ben for that either. He deserves the freedom to make what he wants out of his own future, not be saddled with dynastic legacy.

Their conversation, if it can really be called that with his strange, stern remarks followed by her awkward silences, dissolves a moment later when Ben emerges. And two things happen in quick succession:

One, Rey's mouth completely dies up. The sands of time could sweep over the desert in her throat and tongue. And two, the desert floods ten seconds later when her mouth starts to water in earnest, and a hungry flame licks right up up her spine.

Because Ben Solo is _hot_. The black, clean lines of the tux contain his big frame in tidy elegance, sharp corners, trim waist, smart little bowtie. He's wearing this serious expression as he regards himself in the mirror, turning this way and that to assess the fit. A little furrow between his brow, a stern tip to his lips. He _exudes_ authority right now, alpha to the bone. And Rey has the insane urge to grovel and beg for his attention until he allows her to pull his cock free and suck down anything he would deign to give her while he tells her what a good girl she is.

It makes her laugh, the suddenness and strength of that desire. He glances over at her with a raised brow.

"Is it that bad?"

"No," she says, grinning instead of giggling again. "No. It's really great. You look...good."

His dark eyes and dark hair and dark suit are all really _working_ for her right now. She feasts with her eyes as he turns back and lets the tailor start doing his thing. Ben looks like he could walk the red carpet and outshine any other star there. He looks like every word he spoke would be laced with alpha command, whether or not he intended it, and nobody would feel like their will was hijacked. They'd all be _happy_ to obey. Blessed to receive his command.

 _Mine,_ Rey's omega side insists enviously. This is an apex alpha specimen, and her instincts tell her to catch him before another does. And all of it is so ludicrous. This is _Ben_. Not a prize to be won or a mate to attract. He's _just_ a man. A man who, until a week ago, was nothing more to her than a coworker. Less than a coworker. An employee.

Was he, though? _..._ Possibly not. But admitting _that_ takes a lot more courage than she's ready to give right now.

"But pretty close, I think," Ben says.

Rey refocuses sharply, terrified for half a second that she'd been musing _out loud_. But no, Ben's paying attention to the tailor, and they're talking about the fit of the tux.

"Yes, very close. Only a few little adjustments. I think it could be tighter here," the old man tucks it closer to Ben's waist, and yep, that definitely works.

Rey shifts her thighs together, adjusting her position on the chair as she looks away, face warm. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Why did he have to be hot, on top of everything else? She's always known that objectively, he's more attractive than average. He has a unique face. It's why he's always gotten attention from omegas wherever they go. She knew this. And certainly she admired his form over and over again when they shared her heat. She's known he's hot for a long time.

But seeing him in this tux right now is something else, and her body's response to it is unexpectedly strong. And she knows he's going to look just like this on Saturday, when he marries her. Even if it is a fake wedding, just the mental picture of it makes her head spin.

The tailor doesn't talk to her again when Ben changes back into his clothes. She doesn't mind. She's thoroughly flustered and a little moist between the legs and ready to flee the place before she does something embarrassing like storm Ben's changing room and run her hands all over his perfect chest.

"I'm absolutely losing my mind," she sighs softly to herself.

Eventually Ben emerges. The tailor promises to have the tux done by tomorrow, and Ben thanks him. He takes Rey's hand again and they head out into the afternoon.

"You okay?" he asks mildly as they turn left to head towards the marina parking lot.

"Why do you ask?"

"Your scent was spiking pretty intensely back there. It's still strong. You smell...wet."

Is her scent as good for him as his is for her? She wants to ask, but doesn't dare. She just rubs self-consciously at her scent glands on her neck and laughs. "Oh, uh. I mean, it's nothing. Just...you looked really good."

Ben turns to her, eyebrow lifting, little smirk dancing across his lips. "Hm, you liked that?"

"Obviously you know I did," she says, blushing again. She looks away, flustered once more, and spots a familiar man with salt-and-pepper hair and a white jacket coming out of the General Store across the street. Krennic.

Ben hasn't seen him. He's still interested in this little revelation that she liked what she saw. He stops them both and steps towards her, crowing her back against the wall of some other storefront. Rey gasps, hands leaping up to his chest to hold him off as he leans in close.

"You know for whom I'm gonna wear that tux, little omega?" he purrs, soft and low.

"Uh…" Rey stammers.

"It's for you." He leans in a little further, grazing his lips against the side of her cheek. " _Only_ for you."

"Kiss me," Rey blurts, startling them both.

He doesn't really pull back more than a couple inches, dark eyes searching hers. "What?"

"Krennic, he's...he's across the street," she says hastily. "It'll be convincing."

"Is he really over there, or do you just need an excuse?" he says, frustratingly near lips curling into a cheshire grin.

Rey growls a soft little growl and fists her fingers into his shirt, yanking him the last few inches to her.

They haven't properly kissed since that first one, in front of half the island. There was a hasty one when she agreed to let him help her through her heat, but they were both a little too far gone to make much of it, too many other pending activities on their minds. And they didn't really kiss during the heat itself.

It's just as intense this time around. Ben catches the breath right out of her lungs, and what begins rough and insistent quickly turns both tender and hungry. He's gentle but demanding in the give and take of that kiss, and when her mouth opens, he's there, coaxing her to let him in, to explore him the way he eagerly explores her.

Rey clings to him lest he try to break away before she's ready, and oh, she is not ready. It feels too good.

It's when she makes this helpless little noise in the back of her throat that he finally pulls back. A flush of color rides high on his cheeks and he looks as wrecked as she feels. Yet, there's still full presence and control when he purrs softly, tracing a thumb gently over her wet lip.

"Did you enjoy that, omega?"

She nods wordlessly.

He smiles and his fingers drop away. "Good. But it will have to last you for a while. That's the last time I kiss you for the sake of anyone else."

She swallows, frowns. "What does that mean?"

"The next time we do that, it'll be for real. Not for show." He smirks, turns, and saunters casually off towards the marina.

She gapes after him for a few seconds before dashing to catch up, mind still stumbling over those incomprehensible words. She doesn't know what to make of them. For real? And was it so transparent that even in the middle of _this time_ , she wanted there to be a _next time?_

Before they get to the parking lot, Ben snatches her hand and tugs her abruptly left, pushing open the door to the last shop on the street.

"What are we doing?" she asks, the end of the question ringing too loudly as the door closes behind her and cocoons them a swath of silence.

It spooks her, and she looks around. They're in an empty store full of glass cases and glittering jewelry. Despite the absence of other customers, there's a decidedly quiet ambiance to the place. Like a library.

Ben lowers his voice to a hush when he responds. "The extra errand I added to our list."

"I thought we were supposed to go pick up Luke. His flight's about to land."

"We'll make it, don't worry."

A reflex rises in her to chastise him for playing fast and loose with their boss and his valuable time, but she swallows it back because that isn't their relationship anymore, and Luke isn't coming here on business. Anyway, she doesn't have long to think about it because Ben leads her over to the glass display counter and peers down into it. There's a dazzling array of watches, rings, cufflinks, and bracelets spread out below, showcased on satiny pillows or acrylic arms or hands.

"You want something sparkly to go with that fancy tux?" she muses, eying a pair of diamond cufflinks. Nothing has price tags. That's always a bad sign.

"Something like that," he murmurs.

Someone emerges from the back of the shop. A man with warm sepia skin and a charming smile, wearing the kind of suit that belongs on New York's fanciest executives, not on the owner of some little jewelry store in Theed, Alaska.

"Well, well, well," he says, his voice smooth as honey. "If it isn't Little Starfighter."

"Hey, Lando," Ben says, looking up. They lean across the counter and deliver that kind of back-thumping hug men always seem to give each other.

"I heard you were in town, kiddo. Everyone's abuzz about your charming lady here." The man turns his bright white smile on Rey, his eyes crinkling a little at the edges. His scent is subtle. Faint and vaguely chemical, but she thinks he's an alpha.

"Lando, this is Rey Johnson, my fiancée. Rey, this is Lando. He's my father's best friend. He's a miner and...the owner of this shop, I guess."

"Among other business enterprises I have," Lando says, extending a hand. "I'm tickled to make your acquaintance, Rey."

"Likewise," says Rey, shaking his hand lightly.

"We didn't see you last week at the house when my mother invited half the town for a homecoming," Ben observes.

"Aw, buddy, I wanted to be there. I was over in Juneau on the weekend talking to my supplier. But hey! I'll be there Saturday for sure. Is that why you came by?"

"No." Ben tapped on the glass. "So...everything happened kind of fast, and in our haste to get out here, we left Rey's engagement ring in New York. We didn't know we'd be getting married while we were here, but you know how persuasive my mom is."

Lando chuckled. "That I do. Very well, in fact. So you need some hardware for the big day, is that what I'm hearing?"

"Yep. Something a little nicer than that thing I got her back home."

Ben glances at her, but Rey keeps her gaze trained on Lando because she knows the second she meets his eye she's going to do something stupid and embarrassing like blush. It's just for show. Like the kiss. Just for their lying game, which feels long expired now. Getting rings is good strategy. How can they have a convincing wedding and fake marriage without rings?

But it still makes her stomach do actual somersaults when Lando pulls out a black velvet tray with all kinds of gorgeous rings on it. He pulls out another with less dazzling bands for men.

"Don't worry, Starfighter," Lando says happily. "I'll give you the family discount. Seventy-five percent off. Choose anything you like. If you're not into diamonds, I've got a nice selection of gorgeous gemstones right here."

He pulls out a third tray of rings, all with different colored stones, dazzling in the diffuse light of the shop.

The options are a little overwhelming. Ben leaves her to look, skimming his attention over the mens' bands. He picks out one in short order. Rose gold on the inside, onyx on the out, with a thin ring of white shot through the center.

"That'll do it for me," he says coolly.

Lando compliments him on his choice, and Rey feels a little resentful that it was so easy. She doesn't even know where to begin. On the one hand, the diamond are classic and elegant and scream luxury, the kind of luxury she's never let herself have. On the other, the colorful gems are more vibrant and interesting.

She contemplates a diamond set in a swirl. It's beautiful, but too big. She doesn't want something that big. All the diamonds sparkle and flash, but after staring at them too long, they bore her. She moves on over to the other gems.

There's a beautiful sapphire ring, attended by tiny little diamonds. She's always loved sapphires. But it doesn't really call to her either.

 _This isn't not real_ , she reminds herself again and again, because her mind immediately wants to envision her wearing forever whichever one she chooses, until she grows old and wrinkled.

She can feel Ben watching her as she leans over, inspecting various rings. He doesn't offer his opinion, though, and for that she's grateful. She examines a dark gray stone set in white, and almost chooses it in a flood of awe. Deep within the stone flash glimmers of light, like it contains an entire galaxy inside it.

But there's another right next to it that catches her attention. It's smaller than a lot of them, warm rose gold band holding an opalescent white stone. The stone, though, is rough. It isn't tumbled or cut into shape. Despite being obviously polished, it's still got raw edges. The stone itself seems to almost glow from within, subtle, faint rainbow hues shifting just beneath the surface.

She picks it up.

"Ah, my moonstone," Lando says with soft approval. "Beautiful, isn't she?"

"Yes," Rey acknowledges.

"Try it on," Ben urges, his voice gentle. "It looks like you."

She doesn't really know what that means, but she's happy to oblige anyway, slipping it onto her finger on her right hand. It fits snugly.

Lando chuckles. "Wow, fit on the first try. That's lucky. No resizing for you."

"It's on the wrong hand, though," Ben says. He takes her hands in his and tugs the ring off. In one smooth movement, he picks up the other and slides it down to the base of her ring finger on her left hand. He glances up to her with a little smile. "See? Better."

Rey does blush now, feeling silly for being so warmed by that smile and the feeling of his fingers on hers.

"It's good," she agrees.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ❗️❗️❗️🛑🛑🛑 BEFORE YOU READ: I updated twice today! This is the second updated chapter! Read the one before this so you aren't lost! 🛑🛑🛑❗️❗️❗️

Twenty minutes later, she's still staring at the ring as they lean on the hood of the truck and wait for Luke to disembark. The moonstone gleams in the sun, depths of light refracting down deep into the gem. It's mesmerizing.

Ben had insisted she keep it on for now, promising he'd take it back tomorrow so they could do the whole ring thing at the wedding.

Ben doesn't really say much. He hasn't since leaving Lando's. The drive over was silent. Rey didn't have much to say either, so the quiet between them stretches on. It leaves too much space for things she's been avoiding all day to creep in. Echoes of her panic from yesterday. Confusion about their changed dynamic and what it means. The force of that kiss and Ben's coy reaction to it.

She's all tangled up again. This ring isn't helping.

Luke's arrival breaks into the silence. "Hello, my long lost editors," he says with wry amusement. "How's engaged life?"

Rey straightens in a flash, hiding her hands behind her back. Suddenly New York comes crashing in around at this tiny airport on a tiny island off the coast of Alaska. Luke is standing there in a pale red linen shirt, as loose and flowy as his linen pants, much the same ultra-casual vibe as he always employs. He looks like he just walked out of his office. And Rey does not feel like she's ready to have extended face to face time with her boss.

"It's...turbulent," Ben decides, apparently completely unphased by his uncle's arrival. He takes Luke's bag from him and puts it in the back of the truck. "Did you bring anything other than your deadhead hippie clothes for the wedding? Grams is gonna murder you if you wear that stuff."

Luke laughs, opening the door to the back seat. "Don't worry, I know my mother. I brought a suit."

"A _suit_?" Ben whistles softly. When Luke climbs in and closes the door, he moves around to guide Rey back to the passenger side and opens her door for her. As she gets in, he catches her wrist and brushes lightly over her gland, a quick, comforting gesture that matches the reassuring look in his eye when she glances at him.

_It's okay_.

She exhales shakily as he closes the door. Over her shoulder she addresses her boss. "You didn't want to sit up front?"

Luke waves her off. "Nah. That's your spot. I'm good."

Ben gets in and starts the engine. "I don't think I've ever seen you in a suit in my entire life."

Luke grunts. "Consider it an expression of my love for my mother that I'm willing to do it."

"Or your fear," says Ben, and they both laugh.

This moment is so fucking weird. Rey has only rarely had a conversation with Luke about anything other than work. It happens so infrequently that she didn't realize Leia was Ben's mother. In fact it took a full year of having Ben as an assistant before Luke mentioned he was his nephew. It's weird to be talking about Padme. It's weird to see Ben and Luke interacting at all, since the two rarely cross paths and work and always act like they're only peripherally acquainted.

And now everything's just...casual. Like it's the most natural thing in the world that Luke is here to see his nephew marry his editorial director.

"So how's the visa thing working out?" Luke asks after a minute.

"The INS agent is here." Rey says it with a small measure of relief. Maybe it's weird to be speaking to her boss in this social context, but at least they have someone with whom they can share the truth. Out loud. He knows. They don't have to pretend around him.

"My asshole father invited him," Ben adds. "Neither of them are buying our story."

"Hm, that's tricky. Han is a tough nut to crack. You just need to get through this weekend, though, and then it doesn't really matter what he thinks. Just the agent." After a pause, Luke adds, "You've got your mother and grandmother totally convinced, though. Leia couldn't stop gushing about how excited she is."

Rey winces. Is there a hint of reproach in his tone, or has she imagined it? "I'm sorry they've gotten so invested, Luke. I didn't...mean for it to go this way. For them to get so attached."

Luke grunts. "I knew they would the moment you said you were coming up here."

Then what the hell? Why on earth did he allow this? Why would he purposefully set his mother and sister up for heartbreak when this girl they got attached to inevitably divorced their son and the whole ugly truth came out?

"Don't beat yourself up, Rey. I knew they'd see in you what I always have, so it was bound to happen. And honestly, it sounds like you've been punished enough to last a lifetime," he laughs after a minute. "When Leia explained what happened on Saturday night—"

"Nope," Ben cuts in quickly. "Not gonna talk about that."

Rey is grateful. She's never talked about her heat with Luke, and she's not about to start now. She hunches down in her seat and says little, staring out the window, fidgeting with the ring on her finger. The streets of Theed are more familiar now than they were the last time she took this drive. She recognizes the shops now. Lando's. The tailor. The dress maker. The law office where Ben said Hux works. The baker. The school where Zorri teaches. The art studio Rose runs. The strip club where Poe dances. The general store and Padme's alterations shop.

This place is more personal to her now than New York has ever been, and she's barely been here a week. Half of that was spent in Leia's guest house. Is this some kind of cosmic nexus where irrational attachment and affection can bloom at record speed? Because she thinks she might love this little place.

Ben glances at her. He reaches over and takes her hand, giving it a little squeeze. Can he sense how much her mood has shifted since Luke's introduction? Does it worry her that he can read her so well?

"So...you two seem different," Luke observes. "And not just because Rey's suddenly embracing her scent."

Ben lets her go when she tugs her hand back into her lap. He glances into the rearview mirror and dodges the question. "How did everyone take the news at the office?"

Luke laughs. "Oh, they were predictably bewildered and incredulous. But you know how gossip goes. Now they've all got themselves convinced they knew it from the beginning. That part has been helpful as your agent guy has come sniffing around."

Ben is graceful when he artfully pivots the discussion to a question about Mothma's interview, and Luke follows him away into more banal conversation. Less than a minute later, Rey is breathing an enormous sigh of relief, back in familiar terrain at last. It feels good to talk about work. She knows this arena. She can slip easily back into that role and engage in this conversation.

It occupies them all the way to the marina and onto the boat.

"I think you should promote that Kaydel girl to be your next assistant, Rey," Luke is musing when they all climb in. "I've been discussing replacement options with Mara, and she seems like a good candidate. She's wasted on secretarial work."

"I'll think about it," Rey says, wearily remembering that life at work is going be drastically altered when they get back. Ben won't be there, waiting with her coffee and her itinerary for the day. He's going to be down the hall, largely working autonomously because she knows he's competent enough to be allowed to operate without her constant supervision.

"And what's going to be the housing situation?" Luke asks. "We'll need to change one of your addresses on your tax info. Whose apartment will you guys be in?"

Ben pauses before inserting the key into the boat. He glances at Rey, who glances at him, frowning.

Luke catches the exchange and laughs. "Tell me you guys have talked about this. You know that's one of the most basic questions of the interview. _Where do you live? Or where will you live?_ You need to have an answer. Especially now that you're going back married. They might even drop by and do house calls to make sure you really do both live there."

Well fuck.

Yes, it should have been obvious. No, she hadn't thought about it. But she's thinking about it now, realizing that while she might not be constantly around Ben at work anymore, she will be for every minute after work. This pretending just goes on and on, and if one week has been difficult, what will one month be? Or six months?

"We'll stay at mine," she decides hastily right as Ben turns the engine and the boat rumbles to life.

If he wants to argue with her about it, he doesn't show any signs. But if he does, she'll go to war for the right to be in her place. She has no idea what kind of living situation Ben is in, it might even be nicer than her apartment. But he's an alpha. He doesn't nest. She doesn't even know if he'd have anything soft and cozy in his whole place. And even if she isn't in heat, she needs to be able to control her environment. She can acknowledge this rising need to arrange their shared space for comfort, and she's going to let her omega have that much, at least. At her place, she has enough that's soft to give them a head start. Besides, Rey has a second bedroom. He can sleep in there. And with a few ground rules, maybe they can avoid any further breakthroughs heats or middle-of-the-night dalliances.

_The next time we do that, it'll be for real._

Fuck, there's a lot of danger in this plan.

* * *

Dinner is a strange affair. Luke falls back in with his family easily, like it hasn't been years since he's been home. His mother gently rebuffs him for his appearance, he gives her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. They ask him about Mara. She says she didn't come because she's busy working with legal to indemnify the company regarding the whole mess of their editorial director promoting and then marrying the CEO's own nephew.

"It's a nightmare," he laughs. "She doesn't love it."

Leia and Luke are strangely charming to watch together. They obviously have a lot of affection for each other, but they squabble too. Over tiny things. Padme is constantly admonishing them to knock it off. Han laughs. He likes Luke too, Rey can tell. He doesn't give Luke any grief for his line of work — in fact, he talks respectfully about it, more so than he's ever done with Ben. They all seem to get along, and the novelty of him being home takes the focus off her and Ben, at least temporarily.

They're able to make it through dinner without the heat or the wedding being brought up. Han doesn't mention Krennic, Luke doesn't mention Rey's visa troubles. Rey finally lets herself relax and enjoy the company. She really likes all of them. There's warmth and familial love here that feels too good to be true. Like she's watching an advertisement for some brand of flour, and they show a smiling family gathered around a table piled high with baked goods. Or like she's looking through the frosted window pane into someone else's holiday party, pretending to share in the joy and revelry while she stands outside, shivering in the snow and holding a hand to her gland because she knows her heat is coming soon and she'll have to find somewhere to hide.

It makes her briefly happy to be among them. And then, when she crawls into bed that night, listening to Ben shower, it makes her desperately sad. When he emerges from the bathroom and gets into bed, she pretends to be asleep so they don't have to talk about the day, or how she felt doing dishes with him, or seeing him in a tux, or kissing him, or the weight of the ring on her finger. All those little moments feel like glaring stains of accusation that she manages to snatch excitement and enjoyment out of the cruelest thing she's ever done. Stringing this family along for the sake of her immigration status, and taking pleasure while doing it. She hears him pick up the ring from the nightstand where she left it. She doesn't open her eyes.

When she wakes in the night to find herself snuggled into Ben again, she closes her eyes and forces herself to be still so they don't have a repeat of the night before. Not that she doesn't want to, but because, oh, how much she does. It's terrifying how badly she wants it. How she's willing to add to her list of crimes by shamelessly indulging in the pleasure this addictive alpha can bring her, despite their intentions to throw it all away as soon as she has a green card. Like none of this week meant anything. Like it wasn't the strangest, hardest, best week of her life.

They'll burn everything with their lie. And everyone— his family, Ben himself, and Rey too, they'll all be hurt in the end.

_Don't run_.

But it's getting harder to listen to Ben's plea.

* * *

The next day is rough. They take Ben from her for most of the day, sending him to help Han and Luke set up the barn. Meanwhile Padme and Leia invite Rose over.

"We figured you've been spending so much time with us old ladies, you could use a friend," Leia explains with a smile.

And Rey is surprised at how glad she is to see the cheerful omega, at how good it feels when Rose gives her a huge hug like they've been best friends their whole lives.

"How are you feeling?" Rose asks, alive and giddy with excitement.

They put Rey in a chair and start fussing around her, Padme and Leia debating the best thing to do with her hair. Rose, apparently, is also here to consult about this. But for right now, she sits in front of Rey, knee-to-knee, and leans forward like they're sharing secrets.

"Nervous," Rey says honestly. She doesn't add that 'nervous' is only secondary to feelings of massive doubt and guilt.

"That's super normal." Rose gives her an encouraging smile. "I'm sure this is all overwhelming. A surprise wedding! I can't decide if it's easier to just have it sprung on you, instead of having months and months of awful wedding prep, or if it's better to have the slow build instead of a whirlwind race to the finish line."

Rey shrugs. "I have no idea. I never really saw either scenario for myself."

If this confession strikes either of the older women as strange, they're too involved in their own conversation to notice.

"I don't think girls use curling irons much anymore, Mom," Leia sighs. "Certainly not the way we used them in the eighties and nineties."

Padme finger combs through Rey's hair. "Well then what do you suggest? Because it's got a little bend, but not really enough on its own. We need something to coax it along."

"I was thinking an updo could be nice. Rose, do you know how to do them?"

"Of course," she chirps happily. She cocks her head and looks at Rey. "Are you okay with that?"

Up until a few days ago? No. Not at all. But she's getting used to bearing her neck to people now, and this is as safe a place to do it as any. Although it's going to broadcast the fact that although they shared a heat together days before getting married, Ben didn't bite.

"Um," she says uncertainly, fingers trailing lightly over the unmarked spot. "I think so?"

Rose follows her touch. She reaches in mirror for her own, scarred over with a subtle shine. "What's your plan for that, if you don't mind me asking? Is he going to do it during the honeymoon? I know you just had a heat. Are you ready for it to trigger another? Or are you going to wait for your next one and do it then?"

"We haven't really talked about it," Rey dodges. "What did you do?"

"We got married a few days before my scheduled heat." Rose grins. "It's really incredible. The feeling of the bite is...well, I can't wait for you to experience it."

Rey wonders if she ever will. Probably not. After things end with Ben, she's never going to share her heat with anyone else again. The thought of another alpha helping her, trying to take care of her — the thought of someone else's knot stuck inside her while he pumps her full of his own essence — it makes her want to puke. She can't do that with anyone else. It was good with Ben, so good she's going to think about it for the rest of her life, but she'd rather suffer alone for every heat forevermore than let another alpha have that role.

Probably shouldn't tell Ben that. It would make him preen. She knows it would. He's let his alpha instincts go hog wild here. He's become a possessive fool, and she's a fool too, for finding that possessiveness sexy instead of repulsive.

Padme and Leia convince Rose to show them some ideas for an updo, and Rey sits there on her throne of lies, letting them mess around with her hair while somewhere out there, her co-conspirator builds them a stage on which to perform their farce.

When the flower deliveries arrive, the two older women go out to decide where they should put them.

By now, Rose has moved on to trying different make-up looks on Rey, having successfully found a hair arrangement everyone likes. She holds up a pallet of eye shadows, glancing between the shades and Rey's face.

"So, an acquaintance of yours stopped by our house last night around dinnertime," she says, her voice casual, face still scrunched in concentration.

"I don't know anyone—" Rey cuts off sharply. There is exactly one person in town she knows. "Oh."

"Yeah," says Rose. "I think he said his name was Krennic? Apparently he's been talking to a lot of people in town."

Rey groans. "Great."

"Don't even worry. We went through the same thing when Finn and I were trying to get married. Of course, as soon as he knew about the mating loophole, we did that. Can't do anything but issue the green card once you're mated."

"He mentioned that," Rey says tiredly. Now everyone in town is going to know she's having immigration problems, and they're all going to leap to the same conclusions as Han. It'll get back to Padme and Leia, and everything will blow up in her face now, rather than six months from now. Maybe that's not a bad thing, actually.

"But I know some betas who went through the whole process. Apparently it's not that big of a deal when it's a real relationship. It's pretty obvious. They can tell when it's real and when it's fake. So you shouldn't have any problems." Rose sounds warm and reassuring. She doesn't know how damning her words are.

"Krennic is determined to find out we're lying," Rey sighs. "We must have gotten an extra-tough agent."

"He didn't say anything last night about you lying, but he did ask a ton of questions. Things like how long we've known you two were together, if we thought you were compatible, if Ben had a history of serious relationships. We haven't seen the the guy in years, so we really didn't have much to tell that Krennic dude. But we did tell him that no one can doubt you two are for real. Not after that party Leia threw. That proposal story? And that kiss?" She fans herself with her free hand. "Whew, that was h-o-t _hot_."

_Someone give us an Oscar_ , Rey thinks glibly. But she at least draws some measure of comfort knowing that Krennic isn't telling everyone what he told Han, about being convinced they're committing fraud. And she didn't expect it to work in their favor that no one has seen Ben in ages. There's that at least. No one can know how sudden and out of the blue their relationship was.

"Yeah…" she finally says, realizing the silence has gone on a bit too long.

"But hey, enough wedding talk. I can tell it's making you nervous again," Rose says gently. "Tell me about what titles you're working on. Anything you think I'd love? Remember, I ship Kisthilien. Any other stories with a similar dynamic?"

For the second time in as many days, Rey is incredibly grateful to be able to talk about work. She tells Rose about a new book coming out, about a girl at odds with the prince of the moon. It's a real enemies-to-lovers story, and Rose eats it up eagerly. They talk about their favorite tropes and lament together over the latest movie adaptations that ruined their source stories. Rose talks about her art, and the community classes she runs.

It's strangely wonderful to have a friend, Rey decides. She's never made time for them before. She works long hours, and then she goes home to decompress before starting all over again. Weekends are just times for her to work from home. She hasn't really let herself have much of a life. Too busy running hard for something unattainable. Some fulfillment, or validation...or something. Anyway, she really likes Rose. Maybe she should try to find a friend in New York. It's too bad Rose lives on the other side of the continent.

Rose leaves late in the afternoon. Rey wanders out to try to find Ben, but Padme intercepts her with gentle chiding.

"Can't see the barn until tomorrow, missy. It's beautiful. I promise. Everything you've ever dreamed of."

She takes Rey by the arm and leads her back into the house. She sits her down on a couch and plops a thick photo album in her lap. "Now, the groom is pretty busy, and you'll have the rest of your life to enjoy his company. Sometimes even when you don't want it. For now, let's just sit here and take a peek at what your babies could look like, if they favor their father."

This alarmed, strangled little laugh finds its way out of Rey's throat and she tries to hand the book back, but Padme pushes it to her again and takes one side of the album, pulling it open. They're immediately greeted by pictures of tiny infant Ben, and a very young Han and Leia beaming at the camera.

"They had to do a lot of special treatments to get him here," Padme tells her, stroking a finger fondly over the plastic sheets covering the photos. "Alphas aren't meant to have children together. But they finally managed it. Poor Leia. She endured so much. But she got her boy. And the whole family went nuts over him. Look at this."

She flips past infant Ben to a chubby baby with bright dark eyes, grinning a huge grin while Leia snuggles her face into his belly. They both look supremely happy.

"I don't know if any child was more loved in this world than that boy," Padme sighs.

Rey's stomach tightens with every page they flip, watching this Ben-shaped child grow under the fawning adoration of his family. And yes, there it is, a picture of his naked toddler butt running wild under the trees and the Alaskan sky, domed high over his property. She knew the moment she arrived that he was a pampered little prince, and here is the evidence before her.

Padme goes on about how proud they were of him when he graduated high school, and again when he graduated from college and went on to graduate school. She talks about how he was a good kid, even in his turbulent teenage years when he and Han began to clash. When Ben presented, and how it broke everyone's heart to see him tormented by the needs of his designation, even though both his parents could relate. She talks about Zorri, and how everyone knew they weren't right for each other, but if anyone tried to tell Ben, he dug in his heels and became even more determined to be with her.

"He's stubborn," she sighs. "Sometimes he doesn't always know what's good for him."

And Rey is pretty sure she knows exactly what that means. She's pretty sure he's doing it right now.

There are _so many_ family photos. The kind Rey has never starred in. Ben grew up cocooned in love his whole life. And deep in her chest, an ancient pain twists into resentment and anger, and the longer she looks at his perfect life, the brighter that anger burns, until she feels sick with how hot her belly is, like she could breathe fire.

Eventually Leia comes in, reporting that she sent the men into town to grab Ben's tux, and asks if Rey would like to help with dinner. Rey is glad for a reason to get away from Padme and her endless albums. She joins Leia and doesn't say much, only responding when she has to. She keeps her stormy thoughts to herself as she helps this former senator do something as banal as make a chicken casserole for her family.

Leia talks about the wedding. She talks about how long she's waited to see her boy this happy. And it tastes like acid on Rey's tongue.

_Don't run._

Well fuck him. And fuck this whole stupid family and their perfect little love. She's not going to be the selfish child who comes in here and breaks them all apart for her own petty gain. She won't. She thinks she might love them, in her own budding way, and she won't hurt them like this. They deserve to keep thinking highly of their son. If someone has to be the villain, she'll fall on that sword to spare them their hero. But if she has to do it, she'd rather be thought of as the skittish omega who got cold feet and bolted, than the heartless bitch everyone always thinks she is.

While the casserole is baking, she goes upstairs and fishes her scent neutralizing products out of the trash. She showers quickly and uses them, both the shampoo and the bodywash. When she's done, she throws them away again. She still doesn't want to keep them, but she needs to mask her mood tonight, lest it alert Ben to her plan.

She's downstairs again, helping to set the table when Ben finally comes in with his father and uncle. They all look worn out, but happy enough. Ben pulls her in for a quick little kiss on the cheek in front of his parents, and she gives him a fake smile, all the while darkness curls in her chest. He pauses, gives a surreptitious little sniff, his brow furrowing in confusion.

She ignores him and takes her seat. Everyone is cheerful around the dinner table, and Rey experiments with emulating their cheerfulness. It's hollow, bouncing uselessly against the dead sea of anger and sadness sitting hot in the pit of her stomach. But it must be convincing enough because no one calls her out on it. No one but Ben, who only does it with these weird shifting glances he keeps giving her.

"Are you okay?" he asks her later, catching her alone in the hallway while his father and uncle get saddled with dish duty.

"I'm okay," she lies. There's confidence in the way she says it. It feels as natural as putting on an old sweater.

He frowns. "No, you're not. Why is your scent gone again?"

"I just don't want your family knowing how nervous I am about tomorrow," she says coolly. "But isn't that normal? Rose told me is was normal to feel this way."

"I guess so…" he doesn't sound entirely convinced.

Padme swoops in with a conveniently timed interruption, urging them apart. "You two can't share a bed tonight," she says happily. "Give the Baby Maker a rest just for one night. It's tradition. Ben, say goodnight to your bride. The next time you see her will be when she's walking down the aisle."

"Uh..." Ben says unhappily, like he's about to protest.

Rey flits up to him and pulls him down for the briefest, most sexless little peck on the cheek in the world. And she knows it's the kiss of Judas. But it's for his own good. It's as much for him as it is his family. He'll understand when she's away and his hormones have had time to settle back down. Anyway, this sleeping arrangement is a wonderfully opportune window Padme has given her. She couldn't have planned it better.

"Goodnight, Ben," she says breezily, and then turns and flees to her room.

* * *

Rey kind of hates that it doesn't get dark.

She forgot about that pesky little aspect. Hard to vanish under the cover of nightfall when there is no nightfall.

Still, she packs her bag, writes a note to Ben, apologizing for leaving him high and dry, explaining that she'll get Krennic to drop any charges against him, promising to contract that unagented book before she goes back to England, thanking him for this week. It all feels incredibly inadequate and feeble, but she doesn't really have a better option. So she draws the curtains closed, pretending that she's gone to bed. In the meantime she watches the hours tick by and listens to the rest of the house quiet down. She's pretty sure they put Ben in some other part of the house, because she doesn't catch any whiff of that familiar scent.

Around midnight, she assumes it's safe to go. She creeps downstairs as quietly as she can, grateful that the house is dark and oh-so-quiet. Chewie startles her when he appears around the corner, but he just grins his lopsided dog grin and wags his tail. She gives him a pat, tells him to go to bed. He turns around and trots back to wherever he came from.

She sneaks out the kitchen door and across the lawn, immediately disoriented yet again by the golden sky, illuminated by a fat sun hanging halfway out of the horizon. It's so fucking _weird_. Not really the kind of ambiance she anticipated when she made this plan in her head.

Just as she's about to set foot on the boardwalk leading down the cliffside to the boat, a fresh wave of bergamot and cedar envelopes her just as a large hand wraps around her wrist, and she jumps clean out of her skin.

"Fucking hell, Ben," she snaps, whirling. How did he sneak up on her like this? Was he just waiting somewhere for her to walk past?

He's glaring at her, eyes black as night and cold and ice. His voice is laced with that same chill, and maybe a little wounded note too. "I asked you not to run."

"I know that," she yanks her arm out of his grasp. "Were you following me?"

"You smell one way all week and then suddenly you smell like nothing at all. Kind of rings some alarm bells." His hard face doesn't change. "Why are you running?"

She shudders. "Because I have to."

"Why?" It doesn't really sound like a question. It falls flat at the end.

"You know why."

"Explain it to me like I don't."

"Because it turns out, despite my reputation, I haven't actually put my heart on ice." That very heart starts to pound furiously in her chest, realizing her plan has been foiled. Well, she won't fail to get away. She knows he won't physically trap her here, and there's nothing he can say that will persuade her to stay.

"I know you haven't," he says. "I was wrong to say that to you before. But we had a deal, Johnson. You can't back out on me."

"Yes I can, because I have to. I can't believe you won't." The anger from before rises sharply, pain with it. "What the hell is wrong with you, Ben? Why would you put them through this? Every day it gets worse. Every day they get more attached. They adore you, and you're willing to break their hearts?"

"I'm not. You're the one running away, Rey."

"Because if you won't save them from us, then I will. I love them too much to put them through this stupid scheme. Apparently you don't."

"It's not a scheme," he says.

"Yes it is!"

"Not for me it isn't. Not anymore. And I don't intend to hurt my family."

She scoffs. "Are you kidding? Then how do you explain what they'll feel when our deal is finished and we part? Or do you intend to say those vows tomorrow for real?"

There's mockery in her words, because she knows that's not what he intends. But his face is deadly serious when he leans into her a little and says softly:

"Yes. I do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eep, cliffhanger 🙈 sorry! Resolution coming tomorrow! (Also I had to up the chapter count again because I split 12 into two)


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO @Like_A_Dove!!!
> 
> Also, here we go.

"What?"

Rey's pretty sure she didn't hear him right. Because it sounded like he said…

"I intend to say those vows tomorrow for real," he repeats. "I'll mean them when I say them."

She reels back a half step, flinching like she's been struck. "Don't — Ben — why —" she can't even formulate a coherent response because her heart aches ferociously and her mind catches, skipping over itself like a scratched record. She doesn't understand why he's doing this. Her omega is screaming, but everything else in her is trying to curl up in a ball and hide. _No, no, no._

"Rey," he says, gently grabbing her arms, pulling her back in that little step she lost. "I'm serious. And I'm asking sincerely. No deals. No fraud. Please, _please_ don't run. Marry me tomorrow instead. Marry me for real."

"Why?"

"Because I want to be married to you."

"You don't mean that," she says helplessly, tears filling her eyes. "Don't ask me that. I know you don't mean it. It's _not_ real, Ben. Whatever you think you feel right now isn't true."

"Yes it is." He reaches up as if he's about to wipe one of her spilled tears away, but she smacks his hand aside.

" _No,_ " she insists.

Her throat hurts. Her eyes sting. She wants to push him into the ocean. She wants to drag him back to bed. She wants to do a thousand insane things to vent the mounting panic in her chest because what he's saying here is cruel. He doesn't even know he's being cruel, which somehow makes it worse. He might actually _believe_ what he's saying. But Rey knows better. It's the way it's always been with her. People will tell you nice things for a time, but then life moves on and they stop caring and you realize they never cared at all. It won't be any different with Ben. He just needs time to see that.

"It's just— hormones," she seethes, her breath hitching in the middle. "And weeks from now, when we get some distance between us and my heat and your rut, your feelings will settle down and you'll realize I'm right. And then we'll still have to hurt your family when we have to acknowledge the truth to each other."

"It's not hormones, Rey, goddammit. Listen to me." He sounds desperate too, in his own way. He turns away from her, pacing restlessly, a hand raking through his hair. "It's like this: you're the most frustrating person I've ever known."

She frowns. "Thanks."

"What, like this is news to you?" He throws her this incredulous look. "You know you've been a ruthless terrorist in my life for three years. You already know that."

Rey doesn't say anything, just glowers at him, wiping the last of her tears away. This strategy of reminding her how unfeeling she's been helps. She can be that way again now, for everyone's sake. She can turn and walk down the boat ramp and go back to Theed. She'll hang out in a park until morning, and then she'll find Krennic, confess everything, and let him take her back to New York.

"Don't you fucking do it," Ben growls, maybe reading the new coolness in her face. "You want to leave? Fine. Good luck docking the boat with all your vast mariner experience. But you owe it to me to at least stay and hear me out, Rey."

"Fine," she says impatiently. It doesn't feel nice to be called out on her thoughts. "Fine. Get to the point. You hate me because I ruined your life three years ago instead of now. I got it."

"I _should_ hate you," he agrees. "The problem is I don't. I can't. I never have been able to."

There's a beat. Rey folds her arms over her chest and waits for him to continue.

Ben makes another frustrated sound. "Even when you were being the biggest pain the ass and I wanted to wish for you to be hit by a bus, the hatred wouldn't rise. When. had every right to despise you — I couldn't make it happen. And nothing smells right anymore. Nothing tastes right, either. I haven't been okay for three years. Did you know I haven't been on a fucking _date_ in all that time?"

"That seems unlikely," she says, thinking of all those girls always leaving their names and numbers on things in Ben's possession while they're out in public. It leaves a bad taste in her mouth.

He laughs. "I know. Doesn't it? I tried. Believe me, sometimes I tried. But I always had to leave before the date had even properly begun because it was a joke, trying to make myself be attracted to someone who just...wasn't appealing. None of them smelled like _anything_. It was like trying to date betas. Which, I mean, that's cool for those who can. I can't. It's like trying to pretend I'm in love with a cardboard box."

"That's pretty harsh for those poor women you're comparing to cardboard."

Ben blinks at her, brow furrowing. "Are you _enjoying_ torturing me right now? Making fun of me? Are we back to that?"

She sighs. "No. I'm being belligerent. I think I have good reason, but go on. Whatever. You've had some problems trying to date."

"Nobody smells good," he says flatly. "Since I met you. Omega scent is dull for me now. Like trying to eat food without any salt. There's no flavor anywhere. And I didn't understand it. I saw a doctor. He said everything was working fine. I can get alpha scent just fine. I can perceive that other omegas _have_ scent, it just doesn't register as anything appealing to me. And there you were, smelling like a beta, pretending to be an alpha. I couldn't make the connection — until I scented you at the immigration office."

Rey blushes, remembering. She looks away quickly.

"That was…" Ben shivers. "Your taste was intoxicating. Perfect. Everything I've been looking for my whole life. And it scared me."

"Hormones," she tries again to protest. Her omega is exulting, triumphant, that he called her _perfect_. Her own voice sounds kind of feeble when she says, "See? That's exactly what I'm talking about. Your first hit of an omega scent gland in years and you go crazy and assume it's real."

Ben brushes little flyaway hairs, falling out of her haphazard bun, away from the gland on her neck, his eyes softening. "Rey, just because something has a biological component doesn't mean it isn't real. I'm trying to tell you that I've been fighting biology _and_ my feelings for a long time. I didn't know about the former, and I've resisted the latter. For three years I let you bully me. Whatever you wanted, I did it. Whatever you put me through, I endured it. Because you're brilliant at your job and I wanted to learn, but also because being with you felt better than being away from you."

Rey swallows. Her eyes sting again and she doesn't know why _crying_ has to be her response right now. She knows exactly what he's saying. That feeling. Her head was clearer when Ben was around. Problems were more easily solved, stress was easily dissolved. She insisted on so many late nights and weekends partly because working to the bone with him was preferable to being alone in her apartment.

"You'd be harsh, and unfeeling, and I'd want to be angry. But then there were these little moments. Like when I lost you in Munich, and the way I felt when I finally found you again. Or when I watched you go to war for that debut author who got all that criticism for her portrayal of that alpha character. Or when even just the little things — like when you were super focused, and I'd glance into your office and just see you working there without your shoes on, because you thought no one was looking and you could relax just a little."

Rey can't look away from him. She doesn't know what to do with herself, how to act. Because what he's saying is...confusing. It's making her heart ache.

"And _then_ we get here," Ben continues softly. "And we have to kiss. And then I really get your scent for the first time ever. And my instincts _do_ go crazy. You're right about that. They tell me you're what I've been waiting for all this time. They make me do stupid things. Like try to scent your mating gland, which throws you into heat. And even though it was amazing and I don't know how I'm ever going to stop thinking about those four days, I wish they hadn't happened. Because you can't get past them. You think everything changing between us is because of that, when I'm trying to tell you it's been this way from the beginning. For me, at least."

"Alpha, please don't do this," Rey says a little brokenly, and the tears come in earnest now. "Please don't."

"What are you afraid of?" he whispers.

"You don't want me." She buries her face in her hands, sinking down into a crouch, making herself small. She knows she looks pitiful, but she can't help it. She needs to minimize her surface area, protect her vulnerable center from the hurt that _has_ to be coming.

Ben crouches down beside her, gently pulling her hands away. "Why do you think that I don't want you?"

"You didn't bite. You could have. I was right there and willing, I begged you to. But you didn't, because deep down inside you know there's an expiration date. All of this is just pretend. And it's always the same for me. Tale as old as time. The good times, they're always fake. And they _always_ end. And I'll be alone again, only more broken than when I began because I'll have had you for a little while, which is worse than never having you at all."

He sits down and pulls her into his chest, gathering her into his arms. She lets him. She cries into his shirt while he wraps her tight in his embrace, safe and snug and secure. And his scent lulls her, the way it always does. Soothing. Like _home_. "I didn't claim you because I was afraid of hurting you. I was afraid it wasn't real for _you,_ just heat talk. You don't know how much it killed me to deny you every time you asked. How desperate I was to just do it. But if you still want that, I will."

She grows very still against him, her shuddering breaths quieting.

He will?

That's...that's a lot more than just hormones. That's forever. A bigger _til death do us part_ than the words they'd say tomorrow, if she stayed. Ben tightens his hold on her and leans his cheek on her head. She can feel his heart pounding under her ear. He draws in a deep breath and says, so softly:

"I'm in love with you, Rey."

She stiffens, blinks, and pulls back sharply, just enough to properly see his face to see if those words were real or imagined. But he's trembling now, his hands, his lower lip. He... _loves_ _her?_

Ben tries again to brush a tear away, and this time she lets him. His voice is so soft, almost broken. "I don't know if you're ready to hear that or not. But you need to know. If you're going to run, please don't do it because you think it can't be real. It is. I love you. I don't know exactly for how long, but I know I do. And I know we're barely a week into this new thing, but I want to marry you. I want to mate you. And right now, I really want to kiss you. For real."

Rey doesn't think. Doesn't second guess or question or doubt. Emotions whirl over a forgotten sea, and she dives in first, seizing his face in both hands and dragging him to her. They crash together in a desperate frenzy. There are tears between them, mostly hers, but maybe his too. There are shared gasps and soft whimpers and the slide of greeting tongues. It's everything it was before, only it's better, because it's real and they both know it and there's no more pretending it isn't. He wants to kiss her, and she wants to kiss him. And they both want so much more.

Maybe it has been real all along. Rey can feel how old this longing is, how deep it runs in her and in him. Maybe he's right. Oh god, what is the feeling, being _wanted?_ How does she contain it? She clings to him and cries into the kiss and drowns in him and the impossible thing he offers. To be hers. Even though it's too soon. But logic be damned, biology and something else, maybe fate, is at work here. And if anyone gets to ask for her to risk _everything_ , it's him.

"Ben," she at last gasps against his lips, when the madness inside her conjures up an answer. He freezes at once, panting breaths ghosting over her face. She slides her hands from his face up into his hair, tipping his forehead down against hers. She closes her eyes, breathing in the hopeful glow in her heart, slowly overtaking the fear. "Yes."

He reacts like a storm surge, pushing her backwards until she's flat on her back in the grass. He pins her down, pupils blown, eyes alive and hungry. "Yes, what?"

"Yes, I'll marry you tomorrow. For real. And yes, I still want you to do it." She tugs the strap of her camisole aside. It's crazy. This is all crazy. They've barely acknowledged their feelings and now they're throwing themselves headlong into two huge commitments. But Rey is done with being careful. She's ready to be happy. And with Ben, she thinks that might be possible. "Tonight. Now. Please, Alpha."

Ben groans and buries his face to the spot, inhaling like it's his favorite drug. He kisses the gland, in that sweet curve where her neck meets her shoulder. His lips are light and gentle. A disciple kissing his saint. And when his tongue slides over it in warmth and wetness, imbued with his own scent, Rey exhales a breathy moan. _Safe,_ she keeps hearing over and over in her mind. _Wanted. Loved._

It doesn't have to end. This week. This peace when they're together. _This._

It can go on.

Ben slips a hand over her belly, down into the hem of her shorts. She opens her legs for him and croons when his fingers discover what his attention to her gland does. He gives a little suck on that sensitive patch of skin there along her neck, and is rewarded with a flow of slick to lubricate his little pets. Rey's back arches.

"Alpha," she gasps.

He rumbles approvingly against her skin, hooking two fingers into her wet center. He eases them back and forth, gentle and slow, drawing out more of her slick.

"My omega," he purrs, lifting his head away from her gland and giving her this heated look. "Are you certain? I can have you?"

"Mm, I'm sure." The tears prick at the corner of her eyes again and she turns her face so he can't see. "I never want anyone else. No one. Just you."

He makes this pained little sound, pushing his fingers in deeper. "I can't knot you on the lawn, sweetheart, but fuck, how I want to."

"You're supposed to bite," she complains softly, pushing hard against his hand. His fingers are good, but at the mention of his knot, they feel woefully inadequate.

He leans over and kisses her gently, lips tender and urgent. "I will. I promise. But not here." He slides his fingers out of her abruptly, pulling his hand from her shorts. He glistens with her slick, but only for a moment before he buries them in his mouth and sucks them clean.

"Inside?" she says hopefully.

He laughs. "No. We can go in right now and do other things, if you want." He guides her hand to his groin, where she discovers a barely contained, iron-hard bulge. He thrusts once against her palm, and she gets wetter still, eyes flying up with his with unconcealed hunger. He struggles when he says, "But if I claim you, it'll put you into heat again. And I'm not spending another one here with my family. As soon as we get home, omega, you're _mine._ "

With that, he stands and picks her up, holding her to him like it's no big deal to carry a grown woman around.

"No more running, okay?" he says.

"Okay," she agrees.

"You promise?"

"Yes, Ben, I promise."

* * *

It's really hard to let him leave in the morning. She clings to him to try to get him to stay in bed. She's sticky between the legs and she could still go for another tumble. But he rolls her over and kisses her hard, and there can be no doubt of his intentions after that. Then he slips away, back to his room before anyone finds out they spent the night together despite _tradition._

Rey lays there, full of all kinds of funny feelings now. Disbelief, mainly. Ben _loves her_. It's impossible, and yet, she doesn't doubt him anymore. And she's got a name for that feeling inside her now too. It fits snugly, the exact right piece. Love. She loves him too. How weird. But how good it feels to acknowledge it. Now that she has, she's impatient for everything standing between getting him back in her bed. And everything that comes after — the days when they get to explore this new relationship with everything out in the open now between them.

Fuck, does any of this even make sense? That she's this excited to give her whole life to a man she'd never even been on a date with a week ago?

Maybe it does.

Padme comes into her room a few minutes later with a tray of food and a huge grin. "Rise and shine, sleeping beauty! It's your wedding day!"

Rey sits up in bed and hopes the old woman is too far past her prime to notice the scent of alpha musk and sex still hanging in the air. If she does, she doesn't show it. She sets the tray down in front of Rey.

"Eat up, my lovely girl. You don't want your stomach growling during the ceremony. I'm going to draw you a bath. Rose will be here in about an hour to do your hair and makeup. Leia will come help with the dress. How do you feel? Are you ready to officially become part of the family?"

And oh, it feels _so good_ to be able to grin without an ounce of guilt and say, "Yes. I think I'm ready."

* * *

The barn is enchanting. The guests are composed of many familiar faces. Rey nearly goes into heat again just seeing Ben in that tux, dark hair groomed in thick soft waves, knowing that he really did put that on for _her_. Knowing this alpha of alphas wants _her_. Knowing she gets to have him. And Ben — he wells up when he sees her, arrayed in her vintage gown, perfectly suited to her by the clever alteration work of Padme. She's wearing the pendent. The one carved by an alpha madly in love with his fiery, difficult omega. The pendent, and this man waiting for her, and this ceremony, they'll tie her into that legacy. Into the line of omegas determined to etch their names into the fabric of the world. Rey will learn from them, and keep working on finding her balance.

But not alone.

Luke walks her down the aisle — a decision made by Padme and Leia. They thought it fitting, since he was the one who brought her into the family by hiring her. He leans over and whispers as he walks her through a barn decked out in strings of edison bulbs, tastefully freshened with garlands of green vines, arrangements of flowers, and sheer white fabric draped in strategic spots.

"You're playing your part beautifully," he says conspiratorially. "You look happy. Very convincing."

She grins and tears her eyes away from Ben long enough to give him a cheeky little glance, and then she's focused back on her alpha.

To think she would have run from this. But then, if Ben hadn't caught her and finally told her how he felt, she'd have been here miserable in what she thought was a lie, instead of nervous and astonished and yes, very happy.

There's a tiny little old Japanese priest who performs the ceremony. He introduces himself as Father Yoda. He looks like he's a thousand years old. The wrinkles around his eyes suggest someone who chronically smiles. He speaks carefully as he leads them through a few words about the union of alpha and omega, the divine balance, and Rey hears almost none of it.

She's too busy staring at Ben. At this person she's been with almost every day for three years, and never really _seen_ until a week ago. He smirks at her, and dammit if it's not that cocky alpha grin. _I won,_ that look says. And he did. She is conquered. But the way he teared up when he saw her, she knows that she did a little conquering of her own too.

* * *

"Congratulations, you guys!" Rose gushes, giving Rey an enormous hug. "That was such a beautiful ceremony. And that kiss? Holy smokes, I didn't think it could get hotter than your welcome home party."

Ben immediately wraps an arm around Rey's waist again when Rose lets her go, dipping down to drop his lips against her shoulder. Rey playfully elbows him back, blushing a little.

"Ah, yeah," she laughs. "I guess we got a little caught up in ourselves. And sorry about this. I don't know what's gotten into him."

They've been completely inseparable during the reception. He's always touching her in some way. Holding her hand, or looping just a pinky through hers, or resting his fingers on the small of her back. Ben's scent is strong and content and a little proud. He doesn't smell nervous, like he's still scared she'll run, but he's possessive anyway. If she gets more than a few feet away, he has to pull her back. Rey doesn't mind. It excites her. Especially knowing that they can do what they did last night again, and again, and again. All his little touches feel electric. She lets herself enjoy them the way she's been afraid to all week.

Rose grins and peeks over her shoulder at Finn, engaged in a conversation with Hux but stealing glances her direction anyway. "It's an alpha thing, I'm pretty sure," she decides. She glances up at Ben. "What do you think, big man? Is your inner alpha going nuts right now?"

Ben nods, pulling Rey in a little closer. "I'm three seconds away from hauling her over my shoulder and running back to my cave. I don't even have a cave."

Rose laughs. Rey doesn't think that sounds too bad, actually.

The reception is a confusing whirlwind. Instead of choking on guilt that they're lying, Rey's a little shy and a little giddy with excitement. They're being open with their feelings now, which is strange and satisfying and thrilling. He keeps pulling her to him to kiss her, with varying levels of heat. Sometimes it's a tentative thing, like he doesn't quite believe that she's really letting him do it. Sometimes it's fierce and full of promise of what's to come later. He doesn't seem to care who happens to be congratulating them at the time. His whims come before social protocol.

_Mine,_ his scent says. And she knows hers reads the same way because she keeps getting that heady, breathless exhilaration when she looks at him she realizes the same thing. He's her's. At least by law. And tomorrow they'll fly back to New York, and then after that — they'll belong to each other body and soul. It's _crazy_. This time yesterday was so different. How can 24 hours change her entire life?

"Well," says Krennic, introducing the tiniest raincloud on their gloriously sunny day. "You've certainly got everyone here convinced."

Ben slides Rey halfway behind him, chest rising, body appearing even bigger than he normally is. "Because it's not a lie."

"We'll see," he smirks. "Your interviews are next week. We're a lot more thorough than a handful of rural Alaskan islanders are."

Ben cocks his head to the side. "I have a feeling you'll be thoroughly convinced by next week too."

Luke appears beside them and claps his hand on Krennic's arm. "Hey, buddy, I think you've overstayed your welcome. Why don't you pick up a slice of cake on your way out. We'll see you on the flight home tomorrow, hm?"

Krennic gives him a shrewd, cold look and moves away.

"Thanks," Ben tells his uncle.

Luke holds up a champagne glass with a smile. "I have to say, this isn't at all what I expected when you two concocted the cockamamie idea of a green card wedding. But I'm not complaining."

"What do you mean?" Rey asks, resuming her place tucked into Ben's side.

"I mean this," he waves a hand between them. "You two. Your scents don't lie, you're a lot more than just coworkers enduring a week of hell. I won't be surprised at all if you're still in this 'fake' marriage a year from now."

"Or ten years from now," Rey offers.

"Or fifty," Ben agrees.

Luke laughs. "Gross. If this were a manuscript I'd send it over to the romance department for serious believability editing."

The rest of the reception passes in a glossy blur. Padme flits around like the queen she is, pride beaming from every grin. Leia coaxes Han into making amends — she doesn't know for what, of course, but senses tension between father and son. Han acknowledges that today was pretty convincing and maybe he was wrong about the whole immigration scam thing. Anyway, he thinks Rey's one tough cookie and he's grateful his son found someone to keep him in line. Rey gives him a hug and thanks him again for saving her from the bear.

Leia takes a thousand pictures. And the next morning, after Rey and Ben revisited the guest house for a night of shameless, repeated knotting, she shows Rey the new album she bought to fill with photos of the wedding and all the happy memories to come after. She starts with the first two pictures she had printed from the night before — a photo and Rey and Ben, caught in a private moment near a concealing pillar of vines, both smiling at each other with these tender, eager little grins — and the second, a picture of Rey, Padme, and Leia.

"There," Leia says when she slides them into the first page of the album. "First photo with my daughter."

Rey cries.

* * *

The flight back to New York is charged with sexual energy. They both know what's coming. It's so palpable, Luke requests a seat change so he doesn't have to sit in the row in front of them. Not that they're being gross on the flight — much as Rey feels desperate for Ben to touch her, she knows that would only lead to a tremendously embarrassing situation for both of them. So they don't. They barely even kiss a couple times. Last night should have satisfied anyone's appetite for sex for a while, but that was nothing compared to what awaits them.

Not long ago, Rey would have rather flung herself into a volcano than be told she'd endure two heats in as many weeks, but now she finds herself looking forward to it. This time she can enjoy her alpha without any conflicting feelings tearing her up inside. And she's ready to see if Padme's speech about finding wholeness after the bite holds any merit. She suspects it does.

The ring on her finger shines with that inner luster, and Rey loves looking at it now that she knows it's not just for show.

The crowded city streets of New York are completely lost on the couple as they take a cab back to her apartment. Ben barely waits until they get the door to the cab closed before he pounces on her, prompting the cabbie to cough and remind them to keep it in their pants. It's advice they struggle to heed. Ben keeps his hands in safe zones, but his lips wander over the glands and it's every bit as arousing as it was the first time he ever did it. By the time the cabbie angrily kicks them out in front of Rey's apartment, she's made an embarrassing mess of her pants. They haul their way into the elevator, chasing a frightened beta woman out, and frantically grope and kiss like their life depends on it.

Rey is more and more sure of her choice on this, the first official day of being married to Ben. It feels right in ways that are impossible to explain. She wouldn't be able to tell anyone if they asked how she knew She just felt it in the flames that lick through her now, hotter than campfires, hot enough to melt metal and fuse two into one.

Out of the elevator, down the hall. Ben almost kicked down her door when it took her too long to dig her keys out of her bag. Finally she just thrust the bag at him to give him something to do. He found them in ten seconds.

Rey's apartment smells familiar, but nothing else about what's happening feels that way. They're barely inside before Ben picks her up and hauls her to the bedroom. He doesn't look around. Doesn't stop to take in the trappings of her old life. He's got one single destination in mind, and when he gets there, he dumps her on the mattress and immediately strips off her completely wrecked pants.

It's a flurry of hands and mouths and skin as they peel off all the barriers between them. Rey is as nervous and eager as if this is their first time, even though that ship sailed a week ago. She hides in his neck and sighs when he slides into her, foreplay exhausted by their long trip home. It's such a good stretch, and he pushes so deep inside her, she's surprised not to see him poking a lump into her abdomen from within.

"Mmm, I love you," she groans, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He huffs, his cock throbbing with the pleasure these words elicit. "You'll love me more in a couple minutes."

"Impossible," she says. And it feels impossible, because she's never loved anything the way she loves being loved by Ben.

Her omega is fucking _loud_ right now, begging and whimpering and whining for her alpha's teeth, but Rey doesn't give her any voice. She knows it's coming. He promised. And she knows from her long experience with him that Ben keeps his promises. So she just pants as he plunders her deepest places, savoring every inch of him gliding in and out of her of her entrance.

"Are you ready, omega?" he asks, his voice dark velvet. He lifts himself on his forearms, head hanging low so that his hair falls around his face. His eyes glitter back at her, alive like they've never been before.

"Yes, alpha," she whispers, wriggling desperately as his knot starts to catch on every thrust.

"You're sure this is what you want?"

"Yes."

The bed squeaks and groans beneath them, and Rey feels the snap of his hips and the relentless plowing of his tool like thunder through her whole body. This powerful man, who has been beside her for so long, finally gets to be with her, and she gets to be with him. Inseparable. No more doubts and fears and second-guessing, no more hating herself and trying to hate him in the process. No more hiding.

"I'm ready, Ben," she says softly, honestly.

He lowers himself to her again, wrapping his arms tight around her as he jerks more quickly, more roughly, making them both grit their teeth and groan together. And then, suddenly, he clamps down hard on her gland, so hard her skin gives, and there's a flash of pain and a burst of pleasure so profound, Rey cries out.

It's the strongest orgasm she's ever had, her body arching with the force of it — but it's so much more, too. It's relief. It's love bursting wide open inside her, a cup filled until it runs over, and still it comes. It's the rewriting of every memory with a healing hand. The raw, painful past glossed over with a shine of comfort. Every scar erased. It's a rush of connection so strong that she's no longer alone in her own skin. Ben is there with her, a red thread of him woven through her, tying them together. And she knows that she'll never be lonely again.

Ben whimpers and sucks at the wound he's just created, his knot expanding bigger than it ever has before. His body is wracked with chills and he holds her tight, so tight. And she can feel how his pleasure torments him, too much for one person to bear. She can feel how much he loves her, enough to make hot tears puddle on her skin around his mouth. How long he's loved her. It's real. And when he soothes her broken gland with his tongue and then checks to see if she's alright, she can feel his concern is genuine, the way no one has ever cared about her before.

When she takes her turn and bites him, the whole earth-shattering experience starts all over again.

* * *

Things change after the bite.

Immediately after, because Rey's heat comes on quickly and ferociously. When Ben's knot finally loosens, she starts to build her nest while he orders some grocery delivery. All the while her heart sings inside her, fueled by joy of her own and happiness of his. _Her_ alpha. For the first time since the whole debacle began, Rey's omega is quiet. Sated. Pleased. They're at peace with each other now. She doesn't even argue when her instincts drive her to retrieve the Baby Maker from where Padme tucked it before they left. She adds it to the nest.

The second heat, right on the heels of the first, is every bit as enthusiastic. They can't stop, Ben finding ways to knot her in every square inch of her apartment, Rey begging for more cum than she can actually hold. She decides she's crazy about his dick. It's so nice and thick and long, and it makes her feel incredible. She watches once when Ben knots her. He braces himself with one arm on the wall behind her, hips working her with determination. And she props herself up on her elbows to see his thick tool pistoning in and out, watching the base of it swell as his end nears. And right before he bursts, she watches as he forces it into her, her labial lips twitching as the force of his release pumps into her. _My alpha. My knot_ , her omega purrs happily as the cramps once again subside under his soothing balm.

"Gonna reinforce all our hard work from last time. If it didn't take before," he promises her in soft, soothing tones as he holds her close and strokes her gland, flooding her with feelings of tenderness and adoration, "it will this time. Gonna make a family of us, little omega."

And this time she smiles, because not even her muted rational side feels a flicker of fear.

* * *

The immigration office is packed again when they go for their interviews.

They wait patiently in line. Rey observes the people around them, contemplating her altered mood from the last time they were here. She isn't nervous. But then, there isn't much to be nervous about anymore. There's no fraud, and there's nothing they can do about it anyway. Ben isn't nervous either. She can feel his smug confidence trickling through their new bond, and it makes her chuckle. He can't wait for this.

When they get back to Krennic's office, the agent takes one sniff and his face immediately falls.

"You did it," he says as they lower themselves into the two chairs. His glance goes to their glands. "I can't believe you actually did it."

"I told you we were serious," Ben says with relish.

Krennic looks confused. "I've never been wrong before. I _swore_ you two were lying."

"I take it we don't need to do the interviews," Rey says.

"No." He sighs. "I'll start the paperwork for your green card right away."

* * *

Going back to work provides its own set of changes. Ben moves into his new office. Rey promotes Kaydel, and treats her more humanely than she ever did Ben. She's still ruthless and authoritative at the office, and her subordinates are too frightened to say anything about her shiny new bite or Ben's. They don't say anything about her new look, or her scent, boldly owning her designation. And they don't say anything about Ben's promotion. If they gossip about the changed relationship, they do it in spaces where Rey doesn't catch wind.

Luke observes their marks and says nothing, just grins privately to himself.

Their relationship at work is professional. Ben is a good editor. His authors are pleased, and his books sell well. Rey mostly leaves him alone and lets him do his thing. But sometimes direct supervision is necessary. And if Rey gets too mean and bossy at work, he fucks it out of her at home. Sometimes she does it on purpose.

Leia calls a couple weeks in and they start to make plans for Thanksgiving. They'll come to New York. Ben and Rey will go to Theed for Christmas. When she gets off the phone, Ben comes in after running some errands and presents her with a first edition copy of _Emily of New Moon_. He kisses her gently and says he'll start dinner. She joins him. As they dance around each other, catching little grins and sneaky glances, she reflects on how afraid of this she used to be. How afraid she was of letting her omega be free. It's much easier to that when she's got a mate like Ben, of course, but she no longer feels that designation is a curse meant to ruin her life. While she can acknowledge that it does more or less _run_ her life, her designation also enhances it. Which basically means, unsurprisingly that Padme was right. And Rey has never been happier to be so wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's over 😭 I can't believe it. Someone convince me to *not* write a sequel because I'm already wanting to spend more time with these two as they explore a new mated relationship. 
> 
> I purposefully left the breed kink stuff unresolved so you can headcanon it the way you want. Also, yes, we deviated quite a lot from the movie. Hopefully that was alright with you. I wanted a little more resolution than the on-screen version and I always kind of hated how Margaret had to have that final encounter in front of her employees. Second-hand embarrassment to the max.
> 
> Anyway, I love you all and thank you for your lovely comments. They made my month super fun. I have a couple other a/b/o stories in the works, one a short one, one similar length to this. Hopefully one of them tickles your fancy the way this did.


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